The Gross Reservoir Expansion Project, expected to be complete in 2027, will raise the height of the existing dam by 131 feet, nearly triple the amount of water that can be stored in Gross Reservoir, and provide Denver Water with more flexibility to manage its water supply in the face of the increasingly variable weather and snowpack patterns associated with climate change. (Photo: Denver Water)
Lead Reduction Program The water Denver Water delivers to customers is lead-free, but lead can get into drinking water as the water passes through old lead service lines that carry water from the water main in the street into the home. The Lead Reduction Program, which launched in January 2020, is the biggest public health campaign in the utility’s history. The program reduces the risk of lead getting into drinking water by raising the pH of the water delivered and replacing the estimated 64,000 to 84,000 old, customer-owned lead service lines at no direct cost to the customer. Households enrolled in the program are communicated with regularly and provided with water pitchers and filters certified to remove lead to use for cooking, drinking and preparing infant formula until six months after their lead service line is replaced. To date, Denver Water has replaced more than 21,000 customer-owned lead service lines at no direct cost to the customers.
The higher dam will nearly triple the amount of water that can be stored in Gross Reservoir, providing Denver Water with more flexibility to manage its water supply in the face of increasingly variable weather and snowpack patterns. The additional storage capacity also will provide a greater balance between Denver Water’s separate north and south water collection areas. Much of the work done on the expansion during 2022 and 2023 was site preparation and removing rock from the sides and bottom of the existing dam, preparing the area for the new concrete. Workers also have hydroblasted the face of the dam, removing a few inches of concrete, to leave a rougher surface for the new concrete to adhere to. Work to add concrete that will raise the dam will begin in 2024. At the height of construction, there will be as many as 400 workers on-site, and when complete the dam will be the tallest in Colorado.
25 The Acumen
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