A pair of flood detention dams in the Canon City area have received favorable reviews following inspections by the Office of the State Engineer. The dams inspected include the Watershed C-3 Dam on the Sand Creek drainage just below the Cotter Uranium Mill south of Canon City and the Mud Gulch detention dam east of Canon City. The flood control dams are maintained by Fremont County.
The C-3 dam on Sand Creek was built in 1972 and is designed to hold 1,150 acre feet of stormwater. The dam serves a watershed of 2,266 acres south of Canon City. Dam Safety Engineer Mike Graber said in his inspection report that the dam remains in good overall condition with no problems noted. His only recommendation was that some routine maintenance be performed to remove some silt from the outlet pipe that has accumulated.
The Mud Gulch detention dam was built in 1971 and is designed to hold 432 acre feet of stormwater. It serves a watershed of 1,453 acres above the new Four Mile Ranch development east of Canon City. Graber said the dam remains in fair overall condition but is in need of timely maintenance including removal of silt from the primary discharge pipe and cleaning material from a plugged toe drain.
Both flood control dams were last inspected in the summer of 2002. The condition of stormwater detention dams in eastern Fremont County gained attention after the State Engineer’s Office issued a breach or repair order last year for the C-4 detention dam just below the Shadow Hills Golf Course south of Canon City. Engineering design work is now being completed in preparation for repairs to be made to that dam this fall under a project to be jointly financed by Fremont County and a federal grant from the Natural Resources Conservation Service.