A proposal by Denver’s water authority to expand Gross Reservoir in Boulder County is in the approval process, and concerned citizens and environmental groups met Monday, April 4 to discuss how to halt the initiative.
Gary Wockner, executive director of Save the Colorado, and Chris Barre, president of The Environmental Group (TEG), gave a presentation to a packed room at Shine Restaurant and Gathering Place. The two discussed the current state of the reservoir expansion, also called the Moffat Collection System Project.
The proposal would increase the Gross Dam from about 340 feet to 465 feet high, which would nearly triple capacity to approximately 114,000 acre-feet. If passed and completed, the enlarged dam could result in up to five billion gallons of new water diversion, and some creeks in multiple states would see up to 80 percent of their water drained, Wockner said. It would have major environmental and social impacts in Boulder, Summit and Grand Counties among others.
The proposal was brought forth by Denver Water over 10 years ago, and the water authority needs to gain several permits before any ground is struck. That process could take up to six years, Wockner said, and each step is challengeable in court. Required permits would include those from the state of Colorado and the Army Corps of Engineers, which are expected by the end of this summer. After and if those are granted, Denver Water would need the approval of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and most importantly, something called a 1041 permit from the Boulder County Commissioners.
Wockner said Denver Water and the commissioners are at “loggerheads” over whether the authority needs to file for that permit. The 1041 powers allow certain counties in Colorado, including Boulder County, to make decisions on infrastructure, natural resources and more (including dam and reservoir construction). The Colorado Department of Local Affairs’ website states that the “general intention of these powers is to allow for local governments to maintain their control over particular development projects even where the development project has statewide impacts.”
Barre said the fact that Denver Water wants to create a major environmental impact in Boulder County, let alone the communities across the West that rely on Colorado River water, is “a direct insult” to the county’s residents, which will see “no benefit” from the expansion. He added that the expansion “would be the largest construction project in a specifically designated ecologically sensitive area,” in the county’s history.
In fact, Wockner laid out the potential detriments of the project, which in addition to the further draining of the “most dammed and diverted river on the planet,” include the destruction of 200,000 trees; major noise and air pollution; a major influx in truck traffic on small roads (tens of thousands of truck trips up mostly Coal Creek Canyon); and the potential destruction of animal habitats and populations, among other issues.
Wockner called Denver Water’s mitigation plan “laughable,” and said the project would leave the area’s homes majorly devalued as the environment in the area becomes a “denuded wasteland.”
At the core of the issue is Denver Water’s claim that it needs to secure more water for its users, which serves over one million people in the Denver metro area. However, Wockner pointed out statistics from the agency itself that showed Denver has reduced water usage by 20 percent overall, even as the population in the area has increased 10 percent.
The decision on the reservoir will likely come down to the county commissioners, Wockner said, but that decision is two to three years away at least. Several years ago, the Boulder County commissioners rejected an Intergovernmental Agreement for the expansion after being offered several million dollars and some land outside of the county in exchange for the right to expand the reservoir.
There are numerous alternatives to the Gross Reservoir expansion, Wockner said, the most viable of which is enhanced conservation efforts. If Denver Water spent the $350 million proposed for the reservoir expansion on conservation instead, Wockner said the agency would have more than enough water for decades to come. There are also the possibilities of diverting water from the South Platte River instead of the Colorado, and looking at other storage facilities that won’t have as large of an environmental impact.
For now, all parties will await the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ decision on whether or not to grant the Section 404 Clean Water Act Permit. That permit cannot be granted, according to the Clean Water Act, if the proposed construction has a practicable alternative that is less harmful to the environment, or if the nation’s waters would be significantly degraded. In short, that ruling will tell us a lot.
