During the years of work leading up to the state of construction on the Gross Reservoir Expansion Project, Denver Water worked with the state’s leaders on how the crucial project could also improve the state’s waterways. 

Watch this video to see what Colorado's leaders, including environmental advocates and water experts, have said about the environmental benefit of the Gross Reservoir expansion: 

The video features then-governor and current U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper, Jon Golden-Dubois, the president of environmental advocacy group Western Resource Advocates, and Becky Mitchell, who currently represents the state of Colorado in ongoing talks about the future of the Colorado River. 

Hickenlooper, in talking about the Gross Reservoir expansion work and the environmental mitigation efforts surrounding the project, noted that the overall result will be that “We are going to have a higher water quality once this (project) is completed than we had to begin with.”

Read the full story here: How a reservoir expansion helps rivers.

In its own study of impacts to water quality, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment found that the Gross Reservoir expansion will have a “net environmental benefit” to water quality in Colorado.

“The project ensures better river health on the Western Slope,” Golden-Dubois said in the video.

Also weighing in are David Nikum, executive director of Colorado Trout Unlimited, who noted that the group was “really pleased” at the mitigation plan that Denver Water offered that would provide additional resources to improve the Fraser River through Grand County.

Bob Broscheid, the director of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife division talked about Denver Water’s involvement in reestablishing the state’s cutthroat trout populations, work that’s also covered in this TAP story.  

Check out our YouTube video series covering the construction side of the Gross Reservoir Expansion Project.