The City of Aurora, Aurora Water is developing a new off-channel reservoir in Park County, Colorado to store existing water from the Otero Pipeline and Homestake Project. The project is currently just finishing the feasibility design, and the 30% design is set to kick off around the first of May 2023.
The proposed reservoir project will store approximately 90,000 acre-feet of water storage and consist of four (4) new dams. The dams are the Main Dam, East Dam 1, East Dam 2, and the West Dam. The total length of the dams is approximately 10,000 lf, with an average dam height of 130-ft. Along with the dams, the project contains approximately 2.5-miles of 60-inch steel pipeline from the Otero Pipeline to the Wild Horse Reservoir, and approximately 8.5 miles of 66-inch steel pipe from the Wild Horse Reservoir to Spinney Mountain Reservoir (see the attached map). The project also includes relocation of Park County Road 53.
The entire program costs (including permitting, mitigation, engineering, management, and construction) are currently estimated at $600,000,000.00 million. The project is scheduled to start construction in late 2025 to early 2026, and the first filling of the reservoir is anticipated in 2030 to 2031.
