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<br />Urban Drainage & Flood Control <br />District - Colorado <br /> <br />In 25 years, we have seen the District's population in the Denver Metro area grow by <br />about 850,000 people, along with all of the structures needed to support that popula- <br />tion. However, the number of structures located in identified 100-year floodplains is <br />approximately 4000 fewer than 25 years ago. This is the result of the District's long <br />standing policy of correcting past mistakes through the planning, design, construction <br />and maintenance of flood mitigation projects; while preventing new development in <br />floodplains through the Floodplain Management Program. Of course none of this <br />could have happened without the participation of our local government partners. <br /> <br />FLOOD CONTROL PROJECT TESTED BY DESIGN STORM <br /> <br />In 1988, the District and the City of Broomfield completed $370,000 in flood control <br />improvements along Basin 3207 Drainageway (also known as Nissen Reservoir <br />Channel) between E. 10th Ave. and Ash St. in Broomfield, This project involved the <br />construction of two detention facilities (Ponds 6 and 7), which effectively reduced the <br />100 year discharge downstream by more than half (from 1090 to 480 ds). This peak <br />flow reduction resulted in a regulatory floodplain confined to the street and front <br />yards along K 7th Ave, thus removing more than 60 residential properties from the <br />100-year floodplain, <br /> <br />One decade later on Saturday, July 25, 1998, these improvements returned dividends <br />when a thunderstorm produced in excess of three inches of rain over significant por- <br />tions of Basin 3207. <br /> <br />At Pond 6 the July 25 storm produced 2.76" of rain and resulted in a peak stage of 38.6 <br />feet, equaling the 100-year design flood according to the consulting engineers' design <br />report prepared by Sellards & Grigg, Ine A data plot showed the stage hydrograph <br />and 30minute rainfall amounts between 7/25 noon and 7/26 midnight. A resident at <br />the intersection of E. 7th Ave, and Birch St. measured 3-45" of rain. The storm hit the <br />Basin 3207 area shortly after 5 p,m. with the first inch of rain falling within the first 20 <br />minutes, causing major street flooding, Runoff quickly filled both detention ponds to <br />capacity. The Pond 6 peak occurred at 6:54 p,m. cresting at a depth of 19" over the <br />spillway and releasing 470 ds, <br /> <br />Measurements at Pond 6 were made by an automated gauge that was installed as part <br />of the flood control improvements, Prior to the July 25 storm, the largest recorded <br />event occurred on May 17, 1995, with the water surface reaching a maximum stage of <br />35-7 feet. It is suspected that this stage may have been exceeded on July 19, 1997, but <br />no data was available for this event thanks to the work of vandals on the preceding <br />day, The Basin 3207/Pond 6 gaging station is one of 143 ALERT stations operated by <br />the District. <br /> <br />During and following the July 25 storm, local officials received reports concerning <br />flood problems at a number of locations throughout the City, but the actually damages <br />were relatively low considering the magnitude of the event. Five homes in the 900 <br />block of Birch St. and three in the Eagle Trace Subdivision had water backup in their <br />basements from sanitary sewers, The City later determined that this problem was <br />caused by some unsealed manholes and property owners were compensated for their <br />losses, No sewer backups were reported along K 7th Ave. At least one resident along <br />K 7th Ave, did report two-inch deep water in her basement, presumably from seepage <br />or poor site drainage. She also said that her property had been flooded five times in <br />the past 26 years and this was the first high water since the flood control improve- <br />ments were completed, <br />