https://www.americancityandcounty.com/wp-content/themes/acc_child/assets/images/logo/footer-logo.png
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcast
    • Latest videos
    • Product Guides
  • Resources & Events
    • Back
    • Resources
    • Webinars
    • White Papers
    • IWCE 2022
    • How to Contribute
    • Municipal Cost Index – Archive
    • Equipment Watch Page
    • American City & County Awards
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Statement
    • Terms of Service
American City and County
  • NEWSLETTER
  • Home
  • Co-op Solutions
  • Hybrid Work
  • Commentaries
  • News
  • In-Depth
  • Multimedia
    • Back
    • Podcasts
    • Latest videos
    • Product Guides
  • Resources/Events
    • Back
    • Webinars
    • White Papers/eBooks
    • IWCE 2022
    • How to Contribute
    • American City & County Awards
    • Municipal Cost Index
    • Equipment Watch Page
  • About Us
    • Back
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Stament
    • Terms of Service
  • newsletter
  • Administration
  • Economy & Finance
  • Procurement
  • Public Safety
  • Public Works & Utilities
  • Smart Cities & Technology
  • Magazine
acc.com

Public Works & Utilities


Planning for dry weather

Planning for dry weather

Severe drought steps up city's schedule to build water reservoir.
  • Written by American City & County Administrator
  • 1st March 2005

Last summer, Golden, Colo., completed construction of a 697-million-gallon water reservoir to augment the city’s water storage capacity and to protect the city from the effects of droughts. The $11.5 million Guanella Reservoir was built on the site of a sand gravel quarry and features a 34-foot-high dam.

Before the construction of the Guanella Reservoir, Golden only had 586 acre-feet of supplemental water storage available in the Urad reservoirs, which are located about 35 miles west of the city. During the summer of 2002, Colorado’s worst drought in history produced record low flows in Clear Creek, the city’s main water source. By late August, most of the supplemental storage in the Urad reservoirs was gone, and Golden was using one of its last remaining Clear Creek direct flow water rights.

On Sept. 6, the Colorado State Engineer’s Office ordered the city to stop diverting water from Clear Creek because Golden’s water right was superseded by other water users who diverted water downstream of Golden’s water treatment plant. The order essentially shut off the city’s remaining water supply, forcing it to implement drastic conservation measures and purchase about $145,000 of water from other Clear Creek users.

Since the 1980s, the city planned to build supplemental storage in an active gravel mine located about 25 miles west of Golden in Clear Creek County. However, construction was not scheduled to start until 2004 and would last two years, says Dan Hartman, Golden’s public works director. The drought changed the city’s plans. “The Golden City Council determined that the Guanella Dam needed to be designed and constructed by the end of 2003 and be ready for filling by March 2004,” he says.

Golden pursued a construction manager/general contractor construction approach that allowed building to begin several months sooner than with a typical design-bid approach. The city contracted with Englewood, Colo.-based W.W. Wheeler and Associates as the prime engineering consultant responsible for design, construction engineering and overall project management. Wheeler subcontracted geotechnical, structural and electrical engineering services to the Denver office of San Francisco-based URS.

Guanella Dam, an off-channel, zoned embankment dam, was built using fine-grained silts and clays from the gravel mining operation for the dam core and on-site soils for the dam’s outer shells. The dam is 1,925 feet long and transitions to a 1,975-foot-long homogeneous flood levee constructed along the northern reservoir rim. Water from the West Fork of Clear Creek enters the reservoir from a 2,200-foot-long inlet pipeline. The dam includes a 35-foot-high combined service spillway and low-level outlet intake tower; and a 54-inch-diameter, concrete-encased steel outlet conduit under the embankment to release low-level outlet and service spillway discharges from the reservoir.

A 2,160-foot-long, 85-foot-deep, soil-bentonite seepage barrier wall was built into a fine-grained silt layer that underlies the dam. The wall provides the dam foundation cut-off and controls alluvial groundwater adjacent to the reservoir. The design uses a unique bank storage water right that allows conjunctive use of surface water and alluvial groundwater and minimizes evaporation losses.

The combined total of the open water and bank storage in Guanella Reservoir is 2,140 acre-feet. The reservoir was filled to its full capacity by December 2004.

The reservoir can be filled and drained by an automated control system located in the Golden water treatment plant or at the dam site. When water is released from the reservoir, it travels down the West Fork of Clear Creek to its junction near Empire, Colo. From there, water is conveyed the remaining 24 miles to the Golden treatment plant. The Guanella Reservoir will provide Golden with critical drought protection that will allow it to withstand two successive dry water years equal in magnitude to the 2002 drought.

Tags: Public Works & Utilities

Most Recent


  • ARPA funds
    Spending American Rescue Plan Act funds: A primer for municipalities
    The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 is a $1.9 trillion legislative package that includes funding for states, local governments and tribal nations to respond to the economic and public health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. While initially restricted, subsequent guidance from the federal government has expanded what those funds can be used for. […]
  • landslides
    Managing landslides along road corridors using remote sensing
    Maintaining roads is an optimization problem. Local officials must balance limited and sometimes shrinking budgets with the needs of their communities to have safe and reliable transportation systems. Unfortunately, the importance of a particular maintenance issue is often judged based on anecdotal information and complaints from the public rather than hard data. This approach is […]
  • Report: Technology is evolving quickly, and the water and sewer sector needs to adapt
    In an era marked by digitization and a changing environment, water and sewer organizations are facing a difficult future. To assist administrators as they plan for what’s next, the American Water Works Association published a report Thursday highlighting a need to accelerate innovation, transform services through next-generation technology, leverage tech as an equalizer, and “achieve a […]
  • green building
    Green building and clean energy: Key considerations for municipalities during the planning process
    Each day, it becomes more and more clear how important it is for municipalities to embrace green building and clean energy projects. Once thought of as novelties, elements like solar power and renewable building materials are now all but essential. They advance environmental sustainability and represent new opportunities for economic growth. These strategies also have […]

Leave a comment Cancel reply

-or-

Log in with your American City and County account

Alternatively, post a comment by completing the form below:

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Content

  • How local governments can improve bridge projects through strategic engagement
  • NLC releases State of Cities 2021 report
  • How local governments can get ahead of the infrastructure wave: Strategies to mitigate risk
  • Prioritizing rapid restore leads to stronger ransomware attack recovery

White papers


Modernizing government services for today’s resident expectations

24th January 2023

Preparing Your Community Now for the Next Generation of Older Adults

18th October 2022

Helping Government Fleets Achieve Their Goals

30th September 2022
view all

Webinars


How To: Evaluate Digital Government Service Delivery Technologies

23rd January 2023

Using Technology to Enhance Communications

29th November 2022

Learn the benefits of transforming and automating your Contract Management process

4th November 2022
view all

PODCAST


Young Leaders Episode 4 – Cyril Jefferson – City Councilman, High Point, North Carolina

13th October 2020

Young Leaders Episode 3 – Shannon Hardin – City Council President, Columbus, Ohio

27th July 2020

Young Leaders Episode 2 – Christian Williams – Development Services Planner, Goodyear, Ariz.

1st July 2020
view all

GALLERIES


Report: While remote work is causing offices to empty out, walkable cities are still in high demand

26th January 2023

10 American cities with a great downtown

24th January 2023

Miami leads the way in FT-Nikkei ranking of best U.S. cities for foreign companies

20th January 2023
view all

Twitter


AmerCityCounty

How 5G is making cities safer, smarter, and more efficient dlvr.it/ShYNcx

27th January 2023
AmerCityCounty

Shifting city demographics present an opportunity to build coalitions, address inequality dlvr.it/ShYMMm

27th January 2023
AmerCityCounty

Spending American Rescue Plan Act funds: A primer for municipalities dlvr.it/ShXzvl

27th January 2023
AmerCityCounty

Report: While remote work is causing offices to empty out, walkable cities are still in high demand dlvr.it/ShVhBW

26th January 2023
AmerCityCounty

Managing landslides along road corridors using remote sensing dlvr.it/ShTpL6

26th January 2023
AmerCityCounty

Report: Prioritizing neighborhood infill, expanding transit options increases neighborhood resilience dlvr.it/ShRrFM

25th January 2023
AmerCityCounty

10 American cities with a great downtown dlvr.it/ShNxXH

24th January 2023
AmerCityCounty

With a few strategies and tools, public procurement directors can recruit new, diverse staffers dlvr.it/ShNnj4

24th January 2023

Newsletters

Sign up for American City & County’s newsletters to receive regular news and information updates about local governments.

Resale Insights Dashboard

The Resale Insights Dashboard provides model-level data for the entire used equipment market to help you save time and money.

Municipal Cost Index

Updated monthly since 1978, our exclusive Municipal Cost Index shows the effects of inflation on the cost of providing municipal services

Media Kit and Advertising

Want to reach our digital audience? Learn more here.

DISCOVER MORE FROM INFORMA TECH

  • IWCE’s Urgent Communications
  • IWCE Expo

WORKING WITH US

  • About Us
  • Contact Us

FOLLOW American City and County ON SOCIAL

  • Privacy
  • CCPA: “Do Not Sell My Data”
  • Cookie Policy
  • Terms
Copyright © 2023 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and Head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.