How will all this rain affect Colorado's popular reservoirs?

by: Andrea Henderson

Posted: Jun 5, 2023 / 05:06 PM MDT

Updated: Jun 5, 2023 / 05:06 PM MDT

CHATFIELD RESERVOIR, Colo. (KDVR) — Colorado reservoirs are popular places to boat, swim and fish in the summer. The question now is whether the rain will affect your summer plans.

At Chatfield Reservoir, the water levels are normal right now. There's a reallocation pool that stores some of the extra rainfall. The storage area prevents flooding in the recreational areas and downstream.

The Chatfield Reservoir Mitigation Company said it can release some of that water into the reservoir as needed.

"We’ll be able to use that storage bucket very strategically in timing those releases to make sure that there's still a good steady flow on the river when things do tend to dry out, and provide for a great recreation throughout the summer months," said Charly Hoehn with the Chatfield Reservoir Mitigation Company.

Hoehn said the stored water is multi-purpose and can be used for agricultural and environmental purposes as well.

In Aurora, the city said the heavy rain made less of a difference to the Aurora and Quincy Reservoirs.

"The rain hasn't had a huge impact on our reservoirs," said Greg Baker with Aurora Water. "What has had a bigger impact is less demand. People just aren't using as much. Their sprinklers aren't on or shouldn't be on right now, so we’re not drawing them down as much as we traditionally would this time of year."

The water from those reservoirs is used for plumbing, drinking and sprinklers throughout the county. The water to fill the reservoirs comes from mountain water they pipe in. The water from the rain goes downstream into the South Platte River.

"Up in Park County, especially where 50% of our water comes from, it was sunny and dry yesterday, so we just have to keep it in perspective," Baker said. "It's all about location, location, location, so that's one of the reasons Aurora is being very protective of its water this year."

Baker said the reservoirs are currently full but they still encourage residents to be conservative when it comes to water usage.

Submit