Denver Water also says it now needs a bigger sand and gravel quarry as it triples the capacity of the reservoir. That has environmental groups wondering what else was underestimated in permits.
Gross Reservoir Dam
Posted inEnvironment
Northern Water secures key federal permit for dam complex around Fort Collins
The $2 billion NISP reservoir and pipeline network is much closer to reality after the Army Corps of Engineers gives go-ahead.
Posted inEnvironment
How two big Denver suburbs are approaching the reality that they’re running out of water
Fast-growing Castle Rock starts with a turf ban, while Arvada doubles connection fees. Water prices are now part of the affordable housing equation.
Posted inEnvironment
Gross Dam opposition gets new legal life in fight against massive Boulder County reservoir expansion
Appeals Court clears environmental coalition to challenge permits as county commissioners tell federal authorities who OK’d the project that construction is ruining neighbors’ lives
Posted inClimate, Environment, News, Water
Fort Collins puts new barriers in front of billion-dollar Northern Water dam and pipeline project
Fort Collins has placed new barriers in front of Northern Water’s $1.1 billion plan to build a dam and pipeline network along the Cache la Poudre River, further slowing a decades-long project backed by 15 growing Front Range communities and water districts. City government put a hold on the kind of pipeline and infrastructure work […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, Growth, News, Water
Could Colorado cities save enough water to stop building dams?
When Joe Storinsky straightens up from kneeling in the dirt in Aurora Highlands and taps a spot on his iPad, the very first owners of 3940 Eaton Park St. will join the fight against Colorado’s megadrought before they’ve ever moved in. Storinsky, a field service representative for Aurora Water, sends a signal to the home […]
Posted inClimate, Crime and Courts, Growth, News, Politics and Government, Water
Denver Water sues Boulder County, says slow walk of Gross Reservoir decisions threaten federal permits
Denver Water sued Boulder County in federal court Tuesday saying county officials are slow-walking decisions on plans to expand Gross Reservoir, threatening crucial federal permits and construction timelines. Denver is essentially telling Boulder County to hurry up and say “no” to the raising of the existing dam and water pool, noting that two of the […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, News, Water
Environmental groups appeal court decision that would pave way for Denver Water to raise Gross Reservoir Dam
While a decades-long battle over one major dam and river diversion in northern Colorado appeared to end last week, environmental groups signaled another fight will go on longer as they filed an appeal meant to undermine Denver Water’s Gross Dam expansion. The environmental coalition Monday asked the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to review a […]
Posted inClimate, Environment, Growth, News, Outdoors
Aurora, Colorado Springs get federal OK to test if controversial reservoir in Eagle County wilderness is feasible
White River National Forest officials on Monday said Aurora Water and Colorado Springs Utilities can move ahead with test drilling to determine whether a controversial dam on Homestake Creek in Eagle County is technically feasible. The decision to let the Front Range water utilities move forward in taking more Western Slope water is only one […]
Posted inColoradans, Environment, Outdoors
Determining how much water Colorado’s snowpack will yield is an inexact science, but researchers persist
On a sunny April day at the tail end of last winter, Jeff Deems, a researcher at the Boulder-based National Snow and Ice Data Center, and Nathan Elder, the water supply manager for Denver Water, used snowshoes to reach a point high above the Blue River in Summit County. There they dug a pit, which […]