The Downstream Reservoir Water Storage Project, which has been in the works for a decade, allows Denver Water to store and release reusable water in its system through the use of old gravel pits that have been remodeled to store water.
There are three complexes in the project, which have an estimated total storage volume of 33,192 acre-feet of water. The reservoirs are all north of Denver, extending from Thornton past Brighton. Miller Reservoir and its neighbor to the west, Cat Reservoir, is part of the South Reservoir Complex and began operation in spring 2009. The North Reservoir Complex is planned to begin operating in 2016, and the Lupton Lakes complex is expected to open in 2020.
Denver Water has been reusing water by exchange since the early 1970s, but the Downstream Reservoir Water Storage Project is the first time Denver Water has put return flow into reservoirs directly.