{"id":24976,"date":"2019-06-06T19:04:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-07T01:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/summit-county-readies-for-epic-spring-runoff-into-dillon-reservoir-potential-flooding-in-local-waterways\/"},"modified":"2019-06-07T06:38:28","modified_gmt":"2019-06-07T12:38:28","slug":"summit-county-readies-for-epic-spring-runoff-into-dillon-reservoir-potential-flooding-in-local-waterways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/local-news\/summit-county-readies-for-epic-spring-runoff-into-dillon-reservoir-potential-flooding-in-local-waterways\/","title":{"rendered":"Summit County readies for epic spring runoff into Dillon Reservoir, potential flooding in local waterways"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
A cyclist rides the recpath across Dillon Dam on Wednesday, June 5, along the Dillon Reservoir. Summit County and Denver Water are preparing for a surge of water from the upcoming spring runoff.<\/strong>
Hugh Carey \/ hcarey@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

As the days get warmer, the snowcaps in the High Country are about to shrink. An epic spring runoff is in the works after one of the best winters in recent years, and local water and emergency officials are preparing Summit County for the deluge.<\/p>\n

Snowpack across the state is 654% of normal, according to the latest snow survey from the National Resources Conservation Service. That is 51 times larger than the state\u2019s average snowpack at this time last year, with flooding a much bigger concern at this point than wildfire. The state of Colorado is drought-free for the first time in 20 years, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.<\/p>\n

To illustrate the change in fortunes, the county was on the verge of declaring Stage 1 fire restrictions at this time last year. Wednesday will mark one year since the Buffalo Mountain Fire nearly destroyed the Wildernest neighborhood near Silverthorne. That fire was borne out of extraordinarily dry and hot conditions after one of the worst winters in the state\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

This year, instead of supplying helicopters with water to dump on fires, Denver Water is draining water from Dillon Reservoir in anticipation of runoff, which is expected to really begin coming down in the next few weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year being a high snowpack year, we know there\u2019s going to be a lot of water getting into the reservoir,\u201d Denver Water supply manager Nathan Elder said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to have enough space to catch that runoff while providing for safe outflows to the Blue River below the reservoir.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the moment, the reservoir \u2014 which is the main drinking water supply for 1.4 million people in the Denver metro area \u2014 is 75% full with 192,554 acre-feet of water. When full, the reservoir holds 257,304 acre-feet. An acre-foot of water would cover an area the size of an acre 1-foot deep. Given the current estimate for runoff volume, there will be more than enough water to fill it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe forecasting for the rest of June and July project a volume of anywhere from 169,000 acre-feet to 211,000 acre-feet coming into the reservoir,\u201d Elder said. \u201cThat\u2019ll fill it, but we\u2019re probably not going to fill it until the 4th of July to make sure we\u2019re past that peak-inflow time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elder said peak inflow to the reservoir is expected to start about a week later this year than usual, which also means Summit\u2019s two marinas in Dillon and Frisco will have to wait before the reservoir is full enough for boating. However, boaters should have a lot more time for play this year compared with last, when boat ramps were retracted weeks before they normally would be due to low water.<\/p>\n

\u201cTypically, every year we target June 18 to be at 9,012-foot elevation needed for both marinas to be completely operational, but it\u2019s going to be a little delayed this year,\u201d Elder said. \u201cBut while the boating season might be shortened by a week on the front end, on the tail end, it should last quite a bit longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The delay also means local emergency officials will be watching streamflows longer into the month, looking to spring into action if Tenmile Creek, Straight Creek or the Blue River approach the verge of flooding.<\/p>\n

Current two-week projections show all three waterways approaching \u201caction stage,\u201d the threshold at which the towns and county are called to start flood mitigation preparations, by June 15.<\/p>\n

Summit County\u2019s director of emergency management Brian Bovaird said he closely has been watching the forecasts for flooding. That is opposed to last June when Bovaird, who recently had gotten the job as emergency director, was given a literal trial by fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like picking your poison,\u201d Bovaird said. \u201cLast year, it was wildfire. This year, it\u2019s flooding. We\u2019re expecting heavy runoff moisture, which is good for wildfire but makes us uneasy about the flooding risk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bovaird said the county and towns have been on standby for weeks, and even if there is flooding, the county\u2019s strict zoning requirements in 100-year floodplain areas mean homes are up to code in those locations and have flood insurance, minimizing the likelihood of significant damage or loss.<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A cyclist rides the recpath across Dillon Dam on Wednesday, June 5, along the Dillon Reservoir. Summit County and Denver Water are preparing for a surge of water from the upcoming spring runoff.Hugh Carey \/ hcarey@summitdaily.com As the days get warmer, the snowcaps in the High Country are about to shrink. An epic spring runoff […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-24976","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-11 18:28:44","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KIFT - The LIFT FM","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24976"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24990,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24976\/revisions\/24990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kift\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}