FLOOD08460

• County: Statewide
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: Stewardship of Colorado Stream Corridors
• Date: 1/1/1998
• Prepared For: CWCB
• Prepared By: McLaughlin Water Engineers, Ltd.
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Floodplain Report/Masterplan

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from the survey questionnaire: planning assistance, funding implementation, public
information/technical assistance, and policy and criteria. Table 2 summarizes the community
responses, identified needs, and recommendations for each of the need categories.

Planning Assistance. Stream corridor and local flooding is a significant problem for
communities. Drainage plans need to be based upon a watershed drainage master plain which
provides a broader perspective to planning than has been followed in the past. Planning efforts
should include: flood plain delineation, master planning for selected basins, and project planning,
Future stream and river rehabilitation projects should be built as multi-objective projects rather
than single purpose projects.

The CWCB has recently undertaken multi-objective studies of the Arkansas, South Platte and
Roaring Fork River watersheds in response to the 1995 flood events. Presently, there is no state
program to deal with watershed planning needs on a pro-active basis. To date, watershed
planning at the state level has been a re-active one.

Funding Implementation. In order to be effective, stream corridor and floodplain management
focused programs need to have additional funding. A funding strategy should be formulated to
provide financial assistance for watershed planning and a revolving loan fund for project
implementation and construction. The mechanism for such a program would be grants for cost
shared planning and loans for project implementation and! or construction. A component of this
effort would be to create a state wide revolving fund loan program to enable communities to
address flood mitigation, stream rehabilitation, and watershed improvements.

Public Informationtrechnical Assistance. Respondents identified nearly 500 miles of
unmapped 100-year floodplain needing to be mapped. Statewide, CWCB staff and MWE project
staff estimate there are at least 1500 miles needing to be studied and mapped. In addition,
floodplain mapping completed nearly 20 years ago need to be updated. The community surveys
also identified the need to (1) establish a program of information sharing to disseminate
information relating to flood hazards, flood mitigation techniques, and stream corridor values, and
(2) provide technical data, training, and education to local decision makers who deal directly with
watershed, stream corridor, and floodplain management.

Policy and Criteria. Policies should be established concerning: (1) creating a storm water
detention policy to control excess runoff from new development limiting the increase of peak
flows in the floodplain, (2) establishing a statewide wetlands banking process to allow
reallocation of existing and new wetlands resulting from multi-objective stream corridor
management. New criteria should be established: (1) defming baseline conditions (100 yr.-event)
for stream corridor management activities, (2) defining a higher level of protection (500 yr. event)
than baseline conditions for critical facilities, and (3) creating and adopting a statewide model
stormwater criteria manual.

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