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of Colorado water. The demand for water has lead to the construction of many darns over the years. As development continues, the risk of dam failure grows~ AS Colorado's population increases, growing numbers of Coloradans are at risk. Emergency preparedness planning aimed at the consequences and impacts of catastrophic dam failure began to develop during the 1980' s following the start of the National Dam Safety Progr~. This program stimulated development of emergency preparedness plans for people exposed to risk. It was clear that lives and property could be saved if a full range of measures were employed; those involving the structure of the d~ and those aimed directly at people at risk. The State Engineer requested ,lam owners to prepare emergency action plans and furnished them with a "model plan" (plan available in State Engineer Dam Safety Manual). 1 Although this was an important step, activity and debate on dam safety primarily stressed structurally oriented measures while other nonstructural actions involving people at risk were not taking place at a significant pace. Few comnlUnity emergency preparedness plans for dam hazards existed. Nonstructural safety improvements needed strong stimu- Ius. As more people settled below Colorado's dams, the urgency to deal more directly with threatened populations became apparent; vulnerability was intensifying. In view of the number of Coloradans exposed to the conse- quences of dam failure and the size of the preparedness effort involved to mitigate these consequences, large scale and expeditious action was necessary. Yet the urgency of the situation was not universally perceived, apathy in many cases was strongest among those most at risk. An immediate -2-