When the city of Durango invested $1.4 million to improve the rapids at Smelter Mountain, creating the official Durango Whitewater Park, which was completed just before spring runoff in 2015, there were indeed upgrades and additions to the features beloved by boaters – and instrumental to securing the city’s in-stream water right for recreation. The project produced a significantly improved experience for kayakers, rafters, waders, tubers and observers – most of the time – but the whitewater park project has produced some unintended consequences that compromise boater safety as well as the city’s ability to collect water out of the Animas River for municipal use. The result is a project that will cost the city far more than initially anticipated and remain incomplete – and less than ideal – for another high-water season.
The primary boater-safety issue is the Corner Pocket rapid, which, after the whitewater park reconstruction, became a churlish hole that challenges – and often flips – rafts when the river is flowing at or above 3,000 cubic feet per second. While this comprises just a short period of the boating season, the implications for commercial boaters in particular can be drastic. High water means cold water, and inexperienced passengers who unexpectedly find themselves in the turbid, churning Animas River can be shocked or worse by the episode. Last June, a 56-year-old man died of cardiac arrest after falling into the 4,030 cfs river.
The city and boating community quickly became aware of the problem and plans were made to address it during low water. This was largely expected: Often when a river’s course is altered, there are unanticipated results that require modifications. Scott McClain, a city of Durango parks, open space and trails specialist who is overseeing the forthcoming fixes to the whitewater park, said that doing so is par for the course. “Coming into it, we had heard that there would be some refinement over time,” McClain said.
The problem has been compounded by the timeline. The city intended to make the corrections to the whitewater park and the public works’ department water intake just upstream, which is receiving a lesser flow due to the re-tooled park, before this spring’s runoff began. However, the park’s architect, S20 Design & Engineering, took its time providing revised plans. McClain said the city had hoped to receive them in October; it was February. Alex Mickel, owner of Mild to Wild Rafting & Jeep Tours, said the company missed the mark on several levels. “S20 Designs greatly overestimated their understanding of what’s going on in there,” Mickel said, “Fortunately we have enough local expertise to draw on.” Nevertheless, S20’s dawdling, followed by higher-than-expected bids for the work, pushed the city beyond the window for addressing the problem pre-runoff.
Now, with bids in hand that will address both the rapid and the river’s shift away from the intake pumps, the city is prepared to advance – but so is the river. That means another high-water season where boaters can expect trouble in Corner Pocket, and the river will likely further drift from the intake. The work to address both – first the intake problem, next the rapid – is scheduled to begin in September and be completed before winter. The reroute to remedy the water intake problem will cost $1 million, to be split between the city’s parks and utilities departments. The City Council approved $585,870 for the projects this week, and the Durango Whitewater Center for Excellence committed $14,130. It is unfortunate that these funds are required, and even more so that they cannot be spent until September. As high water approaches, caution is required in the Durango Whitewater Park.
