BOARD00165

• Board Meeting Date: 3/24/2003
• Description: Flood Section - Special Contract Provisions for Montezuma County
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Memo

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COLORAO:O VALLEY
ECOLOGISTS

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'In a larger flood, the ,river could 'a~sp shift to the North side of
the valley further downstream at the; site of the Caldwell-Reimer
pits, which flooded in 1995. The pits and old stockpiles could
cause the river to shift to its old channel'and approach the
exposed side of town.

CONCLUSION

Thus,the gravel pits and dikes which,have been constructed in the
floodplain below the West Fork and apove the Town, pose a risk of
damaging floods to the many homes and farms in that reach of the
river, and to the Town of Dolores, ih a major flood.

, Operation of the gravel pits also pose environmental risks for
fish in the river, and health risks for people who consume fish
from Mc-PheeReservoir, due to the resuspemrion and' inc-reasad river
transport of heavy metal and other toxic residues in the
floodplain.

I hope in the remapping exercise you'will make a special effort at'
early and detailed mapping of all th~se existing pits and dikes, .
as well as the newly developed ones at the Line Camp and Koenig
sites. Their impact on floods should be evaluated by simulating
the lOO-year flood with computer models based on the more accurate
topography. This will assist in defining what is already a clear
risk for the floodplain residents. Immediate action on
remediation of these pits and temporary dikes should be a primary
concern. I hope you will convey theimagnitude of these risks to
the County Commissioners, the Town Of Dolores, and the Dolores
River Planning Group. I am sending qopies of this letter to these
groups and to others, because of the'current and intense
discussion surrounding these issues.

I am also sending them some details about my concerns regarding
impaired water quality in the river ~ue to the gravel mining, but
I realize that is not usually in your field of interest.
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Now
the
and,

that we have some water in' the Dolores
,
iS,sues become more obvious. Thank you
for your interest in our situation.

River again-Thank God~
for coming out here"

Yours truly,

~

William Jobin, Sc.D.
Director

.

Dolores River

9112/~2,

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P.O. Box 720 N Dolores, Colorado 81323 N U.S. of America
Telephone: [phone] N Fax: [phone] . e-mail: snail@fone,net