FLOOD06067

• Designation Number: 66
• County: Boulder
• Community: Unincorporated Boulder County
• Stream Name: Coal Creek and Rock Creek
• Basin: South Platte
• Title: Flood Hazard Analysis - Coal Creek and Rock Creek, Boulder and Weld Counties, Colorado
• Date: 10/1/1976
• Designation Date: 1/4/1977
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

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In the late 1800's, coal mining led to the development of several

small communities along the banks of Coal Creek. Those communities are:

Erie, Lafayette, Louisville, and Superior. The coal reserves have

diminished and most of the mines have been shut down. Major land use is

for agriculture; however, new industries and more" home seekers in the
.
Boulder-Denver metropolitan area have brought additional residents into

the watershed. In 1970 the total community population was about 7,200
people. Demographic projections for the year 1990 show the population,
for the same area, to be over 52,000 people. There are no communities

in the Rock Creek portion of the Watershed.

The study area begins at the Coal Creek confluence with Boulder

Creek and extends upstream for a distance of 14 miles to a point about

0.4 mile above the town of Superior. Coal Creek flows in a northeasterly
direction until it enters Weld County and then flows north past the town
of Erie where it crosses back into Boulder County and runs into Boulder

Creek. Boulder Creek flows into St. Vrain Creek, a major tributary to

the South Platte River. These drainages are in the South Platte subregion
of the Missouri River Water Resources Region, as designated by the Water
Resources Council.

Rock Creek is a tributary to Coal Creek, and the study area extends

from its mouth upstream about 5.4 miles to the Denver-Boulder turnpike.

Total distance of study area on Coal Creek and Rock Creek is 19.4 miles.

A map showing the flood hazard study area follows Page 6.

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