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<br />-' <br /> <br />The Denver Post Online - News <br />l, <br /> <br />Page I of3 <br /> <br />,. <br />e SIl= <br /> <br />345~ solution for one dam another? <br /> <br />By Mark Obmascik <br />Denver Post Staff Writer <br /> <br />+ lIIOI10 NEWS <br /> <br />March 15 - After concluding that a little-used dam helped spread a <br />disease that killed almost all the rainbow trout in one of the West's <br />greatest rivers, Colorado wildlife biologists are proposing an unusual <br />solution: <br /> <br />Two dams, they say, might be better than one. <br /> <br />The Colorado Division of Wildlife is asking a Front Range water <br />district to consider building a $1.5 million dam-within-a-dam at Windy <br />Gap Reservoir on the Colorado River near Granby. <br /> <br />Biologists say the new dam could change the reservoir's current status <br />as a major incubator of whirling disease, the incurable sickness that has <br />wiped out 99 percent of the rainbow trout in the Colorado River while <br />killing hundreds of thousands of other fish in five other famed trout <br />streams across the state. <br /> <br />"It's obvious that Windy Gap is one of the major contributors to <br />whirling disease on the river," said Tom Powell, who heads the <br />aquatics research section of the Division of Wildlife. "I think this could <br />be a really good possible solution if we work together on it." <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />State officials met last week with the reservoir owners, the Northern <br />Colorado Water Conservancy District, to pitch the new dam plan. <br />District engineers said they'd consider the proposal but conceded some <br />skepticism. <br /> <br />"We are going to look at it," said Eric Wilkinson, manager of the water <br />district. "From an engineering and [mancial standpoint, we do have <br />some concerns. It may work partially for a few years. But as a long- <br />term solution, I have my doubts." <br /> <br />T'1- _ !., <br /> <br />~ing a 2,400foot berm through the middle of the <br />....hirling disease spores in a settling basin inside <br />'rent the malady's carriers from flowing <br />he gold-medal trout waters of Middle Park, <br /> <br />~ap is one of the state's worst hot spots for the <br />oot reservoir is shallow, wann in the summer <br />ud - an ideal environment for the tiny tubifex <br />__ ing disease. <br /> <br />?i<(C(C(' cr (-3, <br />6 <br />C'tl- l}y:J <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />Though Colorado River water flowing into Windy Gap is relatively <br />free of whirling disease spores, the water leaving the reservoir is <br />loaded. At one point during spring runoff, state fisheries biologist <br />Barry Nehring found that Windy Gap was discharging 1.5 million <br />spores of whirling disease per second. Once in the wild, whirling <br />disease spores are difficult to kill, biologists say. Individual spores <br /> <br />http://www.denverpost.com/news/news0315k.htm <br /> <br />3/15/99 <br />