FLOOD03116

• County: Bent
• Community: Bent County
• Stream Name: Fountain Reservoir
• Basin: Arkansas
• Title: Supplemental Report on Fountain Reservoir
• Date: 5/15/1970
• Prepared For: US Army Corps of Engineers
• Prepared By: US Army Corps of Engineers
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

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SlIl'l'LEMl::NTALREPORT

Attadlrnent

I

Design and Cost Estimates

II Hydrology

REVIEW SURVEY FUR FLOOD CO~ROL AND ALLIED PURPOSES
ARKANSASRIVERANDTRIBlITARIESABOVEJOfl""ARTINDi\.'1,COLORAIlO

HI

Development and Management of Envtronrnental
Resources

"

Project Formulation

MaylS,1970

V Supplemental Economic Data

INTRODUCTION

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Coordination of Report

1. PURPOSE AND SCOPS _ A favorable repott on the subject review
survey was submitted by. the Albuquerque District Engineer on June 24,
1968, to the Chief of Engineers, Department of the Army, through tile
Division Engineer, Southwestern Uivision._Corps of Engineers, recommend.
ing certain projects forautlloritation. In accordance with law, the
report >las referred to the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Ilarb ors,
Washington,P.c., forrevie..... At the saw.e time a Public Notice of
Report was issued by date of .October 17, 1968, concurr1ng'in the plan
of improvement recommended by the District Engineer, .subject to the
proviso that additional studies:of the Pueblo Local Protection Project
be made concerning.,the feasibility of providing a higher degree of
protection to urban areas by means of reservoirs or' by other ....orks in
the Fountain Creek ....atershed.

VII InfOl1illltionCalledforbyS.R.l48,,8SthCongress

FOUNTAIN CREEK AT PUEELO, COWRADO

2, Subscquenttosublnissionofthereporttothe'Soard,the
prescribed interest rate for ....'!'ter, resources development projects was
changed from 3-1/4 percent to 4.5/8 percent, and later to 4.7/8 percent.
This necessitated"areanalysis of:the.projects,'comprising therecolllll\ended
plan of improvement in addit~on to the supplement:'ll studies required to
determine ....hether a higher degree of protection could be provided for the
urban area of Puebio.

4, FLnOD PROBLEM.- Storms Which produce floods in the Fountain
Creek ....atershed are usually..local in character. Floods.originating
above Co:crado Springs are largely dissipated before reaching the
~outh but storms centered ~t or in the vicinity of Colorado Springs
generate damaging floods at Pueblo. The most .$el'ere'and also the most
recent occurred.in June..196S ....hen approximately S3 city~blocks ....ere
inundated. up to a depth of 8'. feet. Large floods also occurred in 1921
and 1935. These and others of iesser magnttude aTe' discussed in the
llIainreport

~~ Thc purpose of this supplemental report is to su.=arize results
of the additional fotudies. as foHo....s; (a) the feasibility of areser-
voir project for flood control and related purposes on Fountain Creek
nearPueblo,Colorado; (b) the effects of a flood control reservoir on
Fountain Creek on the feaslbility of the Arkansas River t~annelization
Project as reco~ended in the main report; and (c) reevaluation of
projects comprising the plan of irnprove~ent recommended in the main
report to determine their performance indices on the basis of national
and regional beneflts, utilizing the presently prescribed interest rate
of4-7!S percent an<lJanuary 1969 prices. RelateddataandsUPl'orting
studies are pre.ented in the following:

5. FWOD PlAIN DATA._. .Subsequent to subllltttal of the main report
and appendices by the',Albuquerque Oistrict Engineer, additional studies
were ~ade of the Fountain Creek flood plain in connection with the
noed Plain lnformation Report on Fow;tain Creek at Pu8b/..o. dated
October 1968. Utili~ing mote <letailed topography,'.the studies revealed
that there is"a low point in. the divide between Pountain Creek and the
Arkansas River just.'above the 8th Street bridge and that, due to the
limiting C~p~Clty of the bridge. flews exceeding 57,nnO c.f s. wo~!d
discharge through the saddle in the divide and flow'into downtown
Pueblo. In the event of the occurrence of the standard project flood,
with a peak discharge of 225,000. c.f,s". the peak discharge over the
diVide would be about 53,000 c.f.s., inundating an additional 677 acres
comprisingthe<lo....nto....nbusiness<listrictofPucblo,therailroadyards,
and larg~ industrial Compl~;l;es. Floodwaters would flow to depths of 10
feet through the buSiness area and would pond behind the Arkansas River
levees up to a depth of'lS feet. The occurrence of a flood of this
magnitude ....ould have devastating effects and could result in loss of
life. The expanded standard project flood plain of pountain Creek at
~nd in the vidnity of PueblO is shown on Plate 3, Attachment II. Land
usage in the standar<l project flood plain as shown in the main report
and in the additional area described above is given in Table I,

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