They don't think the trapped water poses a danger to residents -- at least for now.
At a public meeting this week in Collbran, a Forest Service hydrologist told residents the pond is not likely to overflow anytime soon. If it did, he says, the bumpy and pock-marked terrain along the path of the mudslide would catch the water.
About 8 million gallons are collected at the spot where the hillside fell away last May 25, leaving a strip of mud and debris 3 miles long. A geologist at the meeting said any new debris that got washed downhill likely wouldn’t reach the end of the slide, or threaten the town. Collbran is about 50 miles east of Grand Junction.
