Northern Water’s Collection Systems staff repurposed part of the Grand Lake system to the spillway on Lake Granby to keep debris from potentially damaging the spillway radial gate structure and shaft house. Additional booms remain in use at Willow Creek Reservoir.
July 18, 2025
Grand Lake Debris Booms Removed from West Portal
A set of debris booms at the West Portal on Grand Lake have been removed.
As part of the East Troublesome Fire recovery efforts in summer 2021, crews installed the floating booms in front of the West Portal of the Alva B. Adams Tunnel. Those booms helped to protect critical C-BT infrastructure from woody debris transported from the burn area. Northern Water acquired this debris collection system from Natural Resources Conservation Service through the Emergency Watershed Protection program.
“At this point post-fire, we’re not seeing any more debris coming in, so the decision was made to remove them, and we were able to reuse them in other locations,” said Collection Systems Department Manager Craig Friar.
The debris booms consisted of interconnected floating barriers held in place by four 3,000-pound anchors, and a screen below the water surface captured debris before it could damage any infrastructure at the tunnel entrance.
