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The Denver Post Online - News J", J. Page 2 of3 3452 . remain potent for up to 30 years. e Windy Gap Reservoir was completed in 1985 at a cost of $84 million, Engineers say it can supply an average of 48,000 acre-feet of water a year, or enough to handle the annual residential needs of 192,000 people. The reservoir was built before whirling disease entered the Colorado River, said state aquatic wildlife manager Eddie Kochman, State officials believe whirling disease was introduced to the Colorado River by the stocking of diseased hatchery fish. Though the project is intended for 10 cities and water districts - including Boulder, Broomfield, Estes Park, Greeley, Longmont and Loveland - no one has used Windy Gap water since 1994. That's because Colorado has enjoyed wet winters in recent years that left more water available in other reservoirs that are easier and cheaper to use, district managers said. Still, water district engineers say the Windy Gap project was built to handle future Front Range growth and development, and the reservoir should be used more in coming years. District officials say several worries surfaced during their frrst review of the proposed dam. For starters, the 2,400- foot berm would take up a lot of space inside the reservoir, and could prevent the district from using its full legal water right. e And while the new dam may trap a lot of whirling disease spores, it also could clog part of the reservoir with tons of sediment, which would have to be removed in expensive dredging operations, It also is unclear who would pay for the berm, which district engineers have estimated would cost from $1.25 million to $1.5 million for a concrete structure. In the meantime, whirling disease is causing trout populations to crash, On the Colorado River through Middle Park, which once boasted one of North America's premier trout fisheries, rainbow trout populations in the state-owned KempBreeze Wildlife Area plummeted from 1,462 fish in every 1,000 feet of river in 1986 to just 11 in 1997, " We're trying to break the cycle of this disease," said Powell of the Division of Wildlife. "This is no 100 percent cure. But if we could try this without costing a lot of money, it might be worth it." Copyright 1999 The Denver Post. All rights reserved, This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed, Return to r 0(1 _ Return to News . Return to Post Home http://www.denverpost.comlnews/news0315k.htm 3/15/99