Background
The Town has two principal diversion locations for raw water. One is the “Beaver Creek Diversion.” At the Beaver Creek Diversion, the Town diverts the water from Beaver Creek into a side channel that runs the water over a “grizzly”, which screens out the larger rocks and some debris and into a trough. The first section of the trough includes a swing gate that can either direct the water directly into the Ridgway Ditch and/or divert some or all of the flow into a side channel that serves as both an overflow and rock chute.
August 2024
On the morning of August 12, 2024, Town staff made a routine check of the Beaver Creek Diversion and found that a rain event over the weekend had severely impacted Beaver Creek above the Town’s diversion point. For the first time in the 40 plus years current Town staff has observed, the Creek was significantly altered by the weather event. The weather event washed out the land between the two braids of the Creek, eroded the side banks and undercut the river so that the river at the diversion location appears to be below the elevation of the grizzly that screens the water from the diversion before it goes into the Ridgway Ditch. In addition, the event filled the diversion channel, grizzly, diversion trough, and the Ridgway Ditch with a mud slurry bank to bank to the top of the Ditch for hundreds of feet.
At this time, the Creek is no longer aligned with the Ridgway Ditch. The Creek is undercut and at a lower elevation. The Creek is also much wider than it was previously. In addition, the new stream banks are unstable. The trees at the top edge of the bank in many cases have parts of their root systems exposed. Given the increased intensity of the storms that took place in the summer of 2024, the long-term fix for diversion will need to be something that takes into account extreme weather events and that can handle the normal fluctuations in flows and gravel loads.
September 2024
On September 20, 2024, Governor Polis issued Executive Order D 2024 014, declaring a disaster emergency due to flooding and debris flows in Ouray County. The Order enables and directs Colorado state “agencies to coordinate response, consequence management, mitigation, and recovery efforts” - and authorizes the use of up to $4,900,000 placed in the Disaster Emergency Fund to support recovery efforts. The Order further states that “The Town of Ridgway experienced the most significant impacts. Debris flows rerouted the Creek, destroying the town’s drinking water collection system.” This declaration of disaster emergency also allows those named in the Order to apply for the Colorado Water Conservation Board’s (CWCB) Disaster Impact Loan (DIL). The DIL is a 30-year loan that does not accrue interest in the first three years - allowing the applicant to apply for and receive relief funds from other agencies for use of paying back the loan principal without incurring interest.
Through technical assistance afforded by the CWCB, Wright Water Engineers, Inc. (WWE) was retained to provide a report summarizing WWE’s conceptual level plan, cost estimates, and associated assumptions for the design and construction of repairs to the Town’s intake structure and transmission system that were damaged by a debris flow that occurred on August 12, 2024. The report was completed on September 20, 2024. It is intended to provide a basis for the Town’s effort to secure initial funding from the Colorado Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Management and the United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service Emergency Watershed Protection program for design and repairs to the damaged intake structure and transmission system. The report outlines and presents 1) WWE’s approach to developing a conceptual plan to repair and minimize the risk from future debris flows to the Town’s water transmission system; 2) estimated costs to secure an interim supply of raw water for summer 2025; and 3) an overall summary of estimated conceptual level costs for the design, permitting, and construction of the conceptual plan.
Through the Town’s own efforts and costs, the Ridgway Ditch was cleared and a connection to a spring that is captured by the Ditch was re-established.
October - December 2024
Town staff’s focus over the fall and early part of winter was on preparing an application to the CWCB requesting an $8M emergency draw-down loan (bearing no interest for a 3-year period) to bridge state and federal grant opportunities. The application was successfully submitted on October 1, 2024, and the loan was approved in December 2024.
In December 2024, the Town entered into an agreement with the United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to allow the NRCS to provide technical and financial assistance for the project. More specifically, the NRCS will reimburse the Town up to 75 percent of eligible construction costs and will contribute some funds for technical assistance.
In December 2024, the Colorado Department of Public Safety, Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management approved the Town's application for funding pursuant to the Disaster Emergency Fund.
January - February 2025
In early January 2025, the Town issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) seeking proposals from qualified, professional consultants for Planning and Design Engineering Services for design and conceptual development of the Beaver Creek Diversion Restoration Project. On February 12, 2025, the Town Council issued a Notice of Award for the Planning and Design Engineering Services for the Beaver Creek Diversion Restoration Project to RESPEC Company, LLC (RESPEC) at a not-to-exceed amount of $568,750.
March - April 2025
On March 19, 2025, the Town issued an RFP seeking proposals from qualified firms to provide Pre-Construction Procurement and Construction Services using a Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) construction delivery method for the construction of the Beaver Creek Diversion Restoration Project. The selected CMAR will work with the Town and RESPEC throughout the duration of the project.
CMAR is an alternative project delivery method that differs from the more traditional Design-Build method. A construction manager is brought in early in the project in a consultant-type role to provide input during the design phase in order to help shape the project's scope and budget to optimize the constructability and cost efficiency of the design. During this phase the contractor provides cost estimates for the construction phase, typically at about 30%, 60% and 90% design. This allows the design team and the owner to have a good understanding of what the project is expected to cost and if necessary, adjust the direction of the design. At each of those milestones, there is typically an option to part ways if the process is not working for all the parties. If the parties feel like the process is proceeding as anticipated and the owner wants to continue working with the construction manager through construction, the construction manager commits to delivering the project within a guaranteed maximum price (GMP), which is better understood and negotiated during the early design stages. During the construction, in the type of CMAR Ridgway is using, the construction manager will construct the project. With the GMP, the construction manager assumes the risk of any cost overruns, meaning they absorb the costs if the project exceeds the GMP. The GMP provides a clear cost ceiling for the project, fostering a transparent and collaborative relationship between the owner (i.e., the Town) and the construction manager. The construction manager’s involvement early in the process can help streamline the design and construction phases, potentially leading to a faster and more cost-effective project delivery.
On April 29, 2025, the Town Council issued a Notice of Award for pre-construction services related to the Beaver Creek Diversion Restoration Project to Meridian Contracting, Inc.(Meridian).
May 2025
Right now, Town staff is working with the RESPEC and Meridian teams to assess the current state of the Beaver Creek Diversion by evaluating damage, hydrology and hydrogeology. The RESPEC and Meridian teams are collecting necessary data to inform an alternatives analysis and design development. Alternatives will be evaluated and compared based on their technical, economic and legal feasibility. The analysis will serve as the foundation for selecting the most appropriate solution for the Beaver Creek Diversion.