Record Settlement for Damage to Rocky Mtn. National Park

The Water Supply and Storage Company, a mutual ditch company and the owner and operator of the Grand River Ditch, is settling a federal claim for damages caused by a May 30, 2003 breach of the Grand River Ditch.

The Grand River Ditch is a 14 mile long water diversion ditch carved into the slopes of the Never Summer Range in Rocky Mountain National Park. It runs high in the mountains - some 1,000 feet above the headwaters of the Colorado River in the Kawuneeche Valley, at an altitude of 10,175 feet.

The Grand River Ditch diverts water over the Continental Divide. (Photo credit unknown)

The ditch captures snow melt from the east side of the Never Summer Range and diverts it over the Continental Divide at La Poudre Pass to the Long Draw Reservoir.

Twenty feet wide and six deep, the Grand River Ditch also carries water from the Grand River - later renamed the Colorado River.

On May 30, 2003, the Grand River Ditch breached about two miles south of La Poudre Pass, within the boundaries of the Rocky Mountain National Park.

More than 100 cubic feet per second of water flowed through the breach, causing extensive damage to park resources.

The mountainside beneath the breach was obliterated by the rush of water. The erosive power of water, rock, mud and vegetation damaged an old growth spruce and fir forest, Lulu Creek, the upper Colorado River, and filled the Lulu City wetlands with sediment.

On August 31, 2006, the Justice Department filed a complaint on behalf of the National Park Service against Water Supply and Storage Company and the Grand River Ditch.

The complaint alleged that the company and the Grand River Ditch it operates injured natural resources within park in violation of the Park System Resource Protection Act and a 100-year stipulation in which the Water Supply and Storage Company promised to pay for any damages caused by the Grand River Ditch.

The Justice Department and the National Park Service said the proceeds from today’s $9 million settlement will be used to restore areas in the park that were damaged by the breach.

"This settlement will allow the restoration of critical habitat within Rocky Mountain National Park and protection of the essential headwaters of the Colorado River," said Ronald Tenpas, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado Troy Eid co-counseled this case together with attorneys from the Justice Department’s Environmental Enforcement Section and attorneys with the National Park Service. "This settlement will benefit one of Colorado's crown jewels, Rocky Mountain National Park, for generations to come," he said.

"We're happy with this settlement," said Vaughn Baker Park Superintendent for Rocky Mountain National Park. "Our goal, all along, has been to restore park resources that were damaged by the breach. Now we can start."

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