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 where the booms continue to capture woody material resulting from post-fire impacts.
Aug. 4, 2025
Grand Lake Debris Booms Relocated from West Portal
A set of debris booms at the West Portal on Grand Lake have been removed for relocation.
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 the Natural Resources Conservation Service through the Emergency Watershed Protection program.
“At this point post-fire, the amount of debris captured by the Grand Lake boom is minimal, so the decision was made to remove it, and we were able to reuse it in other locations,” said Collection Systems Department Manager Craig Friar.
The debris boom 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.
