Fryingpan-Arkansas Project – Condition Assessment & Project Prioritization

The Fryingpan-Arkansas (Fry-Ark) Project is a complex trans-mountain, trans-basin water diversion and delivery project in Southern Colorado.

The Fry-Ark project allows for an average annual diversion of 69,200 acre-feet of raw water from the Fryingpan River and other tributaries. Water diverted from Colorado’s western slope together with available water supplies from the eastern slope Arkansas River Basin, provides an average annual water supply of 80,400 acre-feet for both municipal/domestic use and supplemental irrigation. Construction of the Fry-Ark Project began in 1964 and continued through 1975 and is a Federally owned and operated project through Reclamation. The Fry-Ark Project consists of five jurisdictional dams, 16 diversion sites, 27.2 miles of tunnels, 10.7 miles of conduit; as well as the SECWCD headquarters building and the Broderick Hydropower Plant. The SECWCD works closely with Reclamation in the overall operations of the Fry-Ark project system.

Providence Infrastructure is performing a multi-year program of asset evaluation for the Frying Pan-Arkansas water diversion project. The project was originally constructed and is owned and maintained by the Bureau of Reclamation, but the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District (SECWCD) is responsible for paying for a portion of the on-going maintenance costs. This on-going multi-phase condition assessment is intended to develop a long-term strategy for establishing the overall condition of the many assets of the Fry-Ark system and projections of costs for future repairs and maintenance. It is also intended to help the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District (SECWCD) establish financial reserves to address their financial obligations associated with ongoing operation, maintenance, and replacement of Fry-Ark Project features in partnership with the US Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation). Major project elements include an asset valuation study, a condition assessment, and the development of a 20-year capital improvement plan (CIP). In addition to the Fry-Ark project features, condition assessment work will be performed on the SECWCD headquarters building and the Broderick Hydropower Plant that are owned and operated entirely by the SECWCD.

The general purpose of the Phase I Asset Valuation Study was to develop order-of-magnitude replacement values for a variety of Fry-Ark and SECWCD constructed. This valuation was performed using existing information and data provided by the SECWCD and Reclamation. At the completion of this phase, the total valuation for all assets for the system was $2.8B. In order for SECWCD to proactively manage its resources, a data driven valuation was needed so that responsible planning strategies could be developed for the preservation, maintenance, rehabilitation, and replacement of Fry-Ark Project features, the SECWCD headquarters building, and Broderick Hydropower Plant. In Phase II, PIC collected and evaluated available asset condition data, reviewed existing condition assessment work (CFRs, PFRs, and AFRs), developed a preliminary 20-year CIP, defined future condition assessment goals and processes, and planed and scheduled future work phases involving feature condition assessments. Facility prioritization of the most vulnerable areas is based on the development of probability of failure (PoF), consequence of failure (CoF), and risk. Based on prioritization, PIC will further develop the CIP in subsequent phases which will include physical condition assessments of key assets. The ultimate objective of the entire asset evaluation program is to provide an assessment that will help establish future asset replacement needs, goals, affordability, and minimize future risks of asset deterioration.