Vail Daily Archive
The project to recreate a larger, permanent version of the bolt Lake Reservoir quickly takes shape.
Construction of the new reservoir is scheduled to begin in 2029, and 2032 will probably be ready for use. The project should design at 30% until the end of this spring, and field monitoring will begin this summer.
The Eagle River Water & Sanitation District and the Upper Eagle Regional Water Authority have been working on the construction of the old, long-wheeled bolt lake lake reservoir for years to prepare for low water years and climate security. In 2022 the district bought the Bolts Lake from Battle North.
The old Bolzensee had a capacity of around 300 hectares of water or enough to cover 300 soccer fields deep into water. The new reservoir has a capacity of 1,200 hectare meters or higher. The dam fills up in spring and early summer during the high drainage times and then replaces water in drier months in late summer and autumn.
When it comes to building a reservoir, two elements are the key: finding and then enough water to fill the room.
Support of local journalism
At a joint session between the district and the authority on April 10, the engineers of the civil engineering system presented AECOM options for feeding and lining the reservoir. Craig Helm with AECOM is the leading DAM engineer of the project.
Cross Creek, Eagle River offer several distraction options
In order to have a reservoir full of water, the water must come from somewhere. The original design was expected to pull water from two sources: Cross Creek and the Eagle River.
Helm and his team looked at four locations on Cross Creek to obtain potential locations for water redirections, including the existing Bolts Ditch Headgate (with minor changes). The hope is to use a gravity feed made of Cross Creek, the natural water flow of water is redirected in a slightly different direction to fill the reservoir.
Bringing the water out of the Eagle River into the reservoir is a bit more complicated, so that a pump station has to push the water uphill. The Helm team examined two potential pump station on the Eagle River – one that was given in the original selection of the design and one somewhat downstream.
Join the 17,000 readers who receive the news from us every day.
Register for daily or weekly newsletters at vaildaily.com/newsletter
Geomorphologists at AECOM examine historical images of the Eagle River to confirm stains with long -term stability in the flow, the shape of the river does a large part of the work without intervention needs.
The diversions will look like large boulders and rocks that are stacked in the stream bed and create a defense that holds water in the river towards the reservoir.
The hydraulic asphalt liner leads as a top election
The rock on which the Bolts Lake Reservoir is built is very permeable, which means that water moves slightly through it. To keep water in the reservoir, a liner is needed to cover the floor and sides of the reservoir.
“The reason why we dress this is that natural geology is really broken basic rock,” said Helm. “This is so permeable (that) water, so we actually had to line the entire reservoir.”
The original Bolzen -Lake Reservoir had no liner. “But it has probably lost most of the water,” said Jason Cowles, the director of engineering and water resources of the district. “The early design material we made showed that it was so permeable that we would probably lose the entire volume of the reservoir within a year.”
Helm presented three options for a liner: a compacted sound linen, a geomembran liner and a hydraulic asphalt concrete liner.
The compacted sound output would combine sound from a lending area in Wolcott with other synthetic liner layers to create a 5.5-foot-thicker liner. In addition to the potential for the lining tear with the water level and the possible need to find an additional sound source, the liner had a huge problem: It would require 32,000 truck loads to tone and other materials to drive through Minturn over a period of about two to three years.
The geomembrane, a 45-millimeter thickness, relatively flexible layer made of reinforced polyethylene, which is usually used for reservoirs, is a good safety option, said Helm. With a cover, this liner could take 40 to 50 years.
However, the fuel of the choice for the project is made of hydraulic asphalt concrete. This technology is on the newer side in the United States, but is common in Europe for dams and reservoirs “for several years”, said Helm.
The hydraulic asphalt liner consists of two asphalt layer-one drainage layer and a thick, 3 foot thick layer. “It is very durable, it is a little flexible,” said Helm. “It's easy to inspect.”
In many categories, the hydraulic asphalt liner achieved the highest against several other types of liners, including cost effectiveness, precedent, technical suitability, design ability, operation, performance and maintenance of the options.
The liner would need about 7,000 truck loads to travel through Minturn for over two to three years. The parts of the liner, which are the most exposed to UV rays, may have to be replaced in 10 to 15 years.
The most challenging is there in Colorado no contractors who can install this type of liner. The contractor has to come from Europe. While the technology is similar to other asphalt companies in Colorado, the smooth installation of the liner on the sides of the reservoir requires the work of people who were trained in it.
In order to secure a competitive field of European contractors, the offer for the installation of this liner must be made one or two years before work – less challenge for a project that is to start building in four years. The large size of the Bolt Lake Projekt will also help to attract attention from the contractors.
Wetland resources, cultural resources, biological surveys completed in autumn
Ben Johnson, head of the Black and VeaTCH team that manages the project, presented the progress of the project in analyzing its effects on the environment around the reservoir based on the surveys completed in autumn.
The Johnson team has commissioned Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the US Forest Service, the US Army Corps of Engineers and the US environmental protection authority to receive the feedback of each company on the effects and permissible needs of the project.
There are “no signs of endangered, endangered species in or around the area,” said Johnson.
The construction must avoid the areas in and around. Wetlands around the Eagle River are affected and must be reduced when the reservoir water pumps from the Eagle River. The pump also has to avoid pulling fish. “This is a continuous conversation with Colorado Parks and Wildlife,” said Johnson.
The reservoir construction can affect two locations that could be candidates for the National Register of Historic Places (but are not yet on the list or even be added to be added): The trestle tube from the Eagle mine and the screws take off themselves.
A section of the Trestle pipe must be removed to build the embankment of the reservoir, while the majority stays in place.
The district is currently blocked by construction to Bolzengraben due to a federal mapping error and pursues the federal legislation to enable the country's use again.