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FLOOD CONTROL MEASURES CURRENTLY BEING PERFORMED BY LOCAL INTERESTS After the high flows and resulting flood fight in June, 1985, public awareness and concern about potential severe flooding the Alamosa area increased substantially. As a result of this, the City and County have undertaken a plan to begin to provide some increased flood protection in the area. With funds that have been received from the State of Colorado, the City and County are currently rebuilding a portion of the levee system, from the State Highway 160 bridge down stream to the Denver Rio Grande Railway bridge (see Plate 3). While the City and County have the funds to do this small portion of construction, the flood threat to the area still remains high. The cost of this work is approximately $733,000. The new section of levee, if incorporated with any future Corps of Engineers construction, will provide 100-year protection to both banks and have a subsurface drainage system to help prevent seepage under the levees. The Corps of Engineers is currently analyzing plans which will incorporate the work performed by the local interests. As a result of the passage of the Water Resources Development Act of 1986, it is now possible for a local sponsor to receive credit for work they thave performed if it is compatible with a Federal project currently under study. Albuquerque District, through the Assistant Secretary of the Army, is currently in the process of certifing the work being done by the City and County for the purpose of cost sharing arragnements for the flood prevention measures which the Corps of Engineers could recommend as a result of this study. Once the work being performed by the locals is completed, the costs of that work can be incorporated into the overall benefit/cost ratio for the entire project and the amount of credit that the local sponsor can obtain be more accurately assessed. For this report it was assumed the $733,000 was the final cost. ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED A range of alternative measures for flood control are being considered. The major flood problem, as was discussed in the previous section, is caused by flows originating on the Rio Grande. In general there are two ways to reduce flood damages. First, the damagable property is protected from the flood at the location of the property or, floodflows are prevented from reaching the property. Either of the above mentioned means of flood protection can be accomplished using nonstructural or structural alternatives. Nonstructural alternatives are flood control measures which do not employ traditional features, such as dams, levees or channels. Non-structural alternatives can involve construction, although it is usually limited to the property being protected, or can be accomplished through an institutional change. The alternatives considered in this study are listed below. A discussion, of each alternative is presented in the paragraphs which follow. 17