Godfrey Ditch Diversion Structure Reconstruction

Otak, in partnership with Naranjo Civil Constructors, is working with CPRW and Godfrey Ditch Board to complete a design-build project that replaces the Godfrey Ditch Diversion structure located on the Middle South Platte River in Weld County, Colorado. The multiple-benefit diversion project aims to reduce sediment transport disruptions, improve maintenance requirements, limit damage potential in future floods, enhance aquatic and riparian habitats, and enable fish and safe recreational boating passage—all while delivering the full decree of water.

Based on Otak’s 2016 study of interactions between water and sediment within a 20-mile segment of the Middle South Platte River, Otak engineers and geomorphologists reconfigured the Godfrey diversion in order to restore longitudinal sediment continuity, thus improving disparities in sediment transport through the reach. The Naranjo-Otak team worked closely with project stakeholders through a comprehensive alternatives analysis, to arrive at the selected alternative involving moving the point of diversion upstream 900 feet to a more stable location and replacing the nine-foot failing structure with a three-foot-tall bladder dam structure, fish passage ramp, and increased efficiencies in ditch infrastructure.

Throughout the project, the team coordinated closely with DOLA (to ensure the proposed design meets the goals of the funding grant), landowners (to coordinate concerns regarding an adjacent parcel with a stringent water court decree), the Godfrey Ditch Board (to address their concerns regarding sediment minimization/maintenance and to ensure they will be able to divert their full decree), and local/state/federal agencies (to ensure permit requirements were being met). The project is currently under construction and is set to be completed by December 2020.