PURGATORY – A water line that failed last year leaves Xcel Energy unable to generate power, crimps the ability of Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort to make snow and puts Electra Lake off-limits to water-sport enthusiasts.
But a temporary pipeline bypass to restore flow should be in place by the end of November.
The estimate came Friday from Alfred Hughes, the superintendent of Excel Energy’s Tacoma Station generating plant.
Xcel Energy owns the system that diverts water from Cascade Creek for snowmaking, electrical power generation and boating and fishing on Electra Lake.
At age 60, the distribution system consisting of a wooden flume and steel pipeline was showing wear and tear. But it was limping along.
Then last year, the U.S. Forest Service through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, said Xcel had to leave water in Cascade Creek to support a brook trout fishery downstream of the water-diversion point.
Now, after 2 cubic feet per second of water is diverted into the flume, the next 7 cfs must go downstream for the fish. Then, whatever water remains can go to the flume.
A mechanical system regulates flow of water.
But given the inconsistent flow in Cascade Creek and the number of leaks, there often was little water in the flume and pipeline. As a consequence, the water froze, seriously splintering the 60-inch steel pipeline upstream of the DMR “borrow valve.”
Last winter, the resort manufactured snow by taking water from Purgatory Creek.
“We’re supposed to receive 2 cfs from the pipeline,” CEO Gary Derck said. “Last year, we didn’t get a drop, but we have unlimited water from Purgatory Creek.
“We didn’t need the pipeline last winter,” Derck said. “But is that water important to us? Absolutely.”
Xcel Energy, which is installing an 1,800-foot bypass around the most damaged section of the pipeline, is no less interested in a prompt remedy, Hughes said.
“We’re a big user of water,” Hughes said. “We’ve been short of water for sometime because we had to drain Electra Lake in 2013 to repair Stagecoach Dam.”
Stagecoach Dam, a timber-crib and rock structure on the north end of the lake, acts as a safety valve.
Tacoma Station has not operated to capacity because of the inconsistent water supply, Hughes said.
Water reaches Tacoma Station through a two-mile pressurized pipeline on the south end of Electra Lake. From a point 1,000 feet above the generating plant, on the edge of the Animas River, gravity pushes water through turbines before emptying into the Animas.
Owners of lakeshore cabins and water-sports enthusiasts are tired of looking at a body of water they can’t use because of subsurface obstacles.
The restaurant has been open, but no one has been allowed on the water since last summer, said Gina Piccoli, a Durango real estate agent and president of the Electra Sporting Club.
Piccoli said the water-for-fish requirement brought about the problem. Cabin owners are skeptical about the mid-November date for pipeline repair, Piccoli said.
daler@durangoherald.com
