Annual sediment flushing exercise scheduled at Cherry Creek Reservoir

Katie Seefus, project manager in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District office, says the exercise involves high releases from each of the five main outlet gates at the Cherry Creek Reservoir Project, located south of Interstate 225 in Aurora, Colo. "When the gates are opened, the high velocity of the water leaving the reservoir scours the area immediately upstream of the gates and transports sediment with the flow," says Seefus. The scouring of the sediment near the gates is required to allow proper operation of the outlet gates.

A release of 50 cubic feet per second (cfs) will be made at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 28 until the flush begins. The actual flushing exercise will begin at 9:30 a.m. and end at 12:20 p.m., Thursday, May 29, when the release will be set back to normal levels. The travel time from Cherry Creek dam to the Cherry Creek at Denver streamgage, located at the Champa Street Bridge, is about 6 hours. Following is a schedule of the planned releases.

Omaha District Commander Col. Joel Cross asks the public to be aware that the high flows will take some time to reach the Cherry Creek channel in downtown Denver, CO.  Flows from the last gate opening will not reach downtown until late afternoon on Thursday. The high flows will cause higher than normal creek stages and potential flooding of bike paths and stream crossings. "In the interest of public safety, I urge the public to not attempt to cross the stream during this event," says Cross.