FLOOD04566

• County: Boulder
• Community: Boulder
• Stream Name: Gregory, Bear Can, Bluebell Can Creeks, Viele Chan
• Basin: South Platte
• Title: Major Drainageway Planning Volume 1, Part C
• Date: 9/1/1970
• Prepared For: Boulder County
• Prepared By: CWCB
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

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15

SECTION III

ALTERNATE PLANS

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The study of reasonable alternate plans for drainage is very important,
though time consuming. Without the study of alternates, one cannot say
with any degree of assurance, that the ones chosen are the best.

The channel encroachment and deterioration of the maJor drainageways in
South Boulder have created a significant drainage problem. Paralleiing
the deterioration of the channels has been the encroachment onto the
flood plain. This is a typical problem in the entire urbanized area of
the Denver Region.

The development of alternate concepts for the drainageways included
basic data collection, hydrological studies, field inspections, and
the development of various possible alternates which appeared to pro-
vide an opportunity for a solution to the long range flood problem
in South Boulder. The various alternates were developed utilizing an
environmental design team which included the followIng:

Joe Shoemaker, Attorney and State Legislator, Denver
Dr. John Sheaffer, Urban Drainage Planner, University
of Chicago Center for Urban Studies
Kenneth Wright, Consulting Engineer, Denver.

The alternates were reviewed by the environmental design team and a
selection was made. These recommendations were presented to officials
of the City of Boulder. Two of the significant aspects of the study
of the various alternates were that each member of the environmental
design team was involved in detailed field inspections of the basins
and the team was unanimous in each of the recommendations,

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It has been pointed out that urban drainage problems consist of two
basic types. The first urban drainage problem that One might consider
is that of the storm sewer variety. This type of drainage is sometimes
called initial drainage, sometimes convenience drainage. The works needed
for this type of drainage often consist of planned and designed closed
and open conduits and their appurtenances; in other words, the typical
storm sewer system. The lack of this initIal system often causes standing
water In streets, over-topped sIdewalks, and a messy urban image. It
Is particularly troublesome during snowmelt runoff periods when one has
water standing for long periods of time. The lack of a good initial
drainage system helps cause deterioration of roads and gutters and re-
sults In the majority of complaints to the Department of Public Works.

In many of our cities the maJor system often has not been planned or
designed and its functioning very often results in flood damage losses.
The effectiveness of urban drainage design depends upon a clear picture