Investing $1.7 billion into our water supply
Preparing a water system to meet future challenges means investing in a flexible, resilient operation that’s ready for just about anything — such as a warming climate, population growth, periodic droughts, competition for water resources and changing regulatory environments.
Watch a video on putting rates to work at Denver Water:
Denver Water is building and maintaining just such a system, one that collects water across 4,000 square miles of watershed, then cleans and delivers it across its 335-square-mile service area, all while meeting day-to-day challenges and addressing long-range issues.
The goal: Ensure a clean, safe, reliable water supply for 1.5 million people, about 25% of Colorado’s population, now and in the future.
To continue meeting that goal, Denver Water expects to invest about $1.7 billion into its water system during the next 10 years, from large projects to regular inspection and maintenance programs designed to ensure the system is flexible, resilient and efficient.
Read how Denver Water customers are investing in their water system.
In addition to rates paid by customers, funding for Denver Water’s infrastructure projects, day-to-day operations and emergency expenses like water main breaks comes from bond sales, cash reserves, hydropower sales, grants, federal funding, and fees paid when new homes and buildings are connected to the system. The utility does not make a profit or receive tax dollars.
Major credit rating agencies recently confirmed Denver Water’s triple-A credit rating, the highest possible, citing the utility’s track record of strong financial management.
Here’s an overview of some of Denver Water’s recently completed and ongoing work:
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, and Denver Water is considered a leader in the effort to remove lead pipes from the nation’s drinking water infrastructure.
The program reduces the risk of lead getting into drinking water by raising the pH of the water delivered and replacing the estimated 60,000 to 64,000 old, customer-owned lead service lines at no direct cost to the customer. Denver Water communicates regularly with households who are in the program and provides them 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 35,000 customer-owned lead service lines at no direct cost to the customer. The program received $76 million in federal funding in 2022 to help accelerate the pace of replacement work in underserved communities, resulting in thousands of additional lines being replaced since 2023.
Northwater Treatment Plant
Denver Water in 2024 celebrated the completion of the new, state-of-the-art Northwater Treatment Plant next to Ralston Reservoir north of Golden. The new treatment plant was completed on schedule and under budget.
The treatment plant can clean up to 75 million gallons of water per day and was designed to be expanded in the future as needed to clean up to 150 million gallons of water per day.
A major feature of the site, visible from Highway 93, is the round, concrete tops of two giant water storage tanks. Each tank can hold 10 million gallons of clean, safe drinking water.
The plant is a major part of Denver Water’s North System Renewal Project, a multiyear initiative that included building a new, 8.5-mile pipeline between the Northwater Treatment Plant and the Moffat Treatment Plant. The new pipe, completed in 2022, replaced one from the 1930s.
The Moffat Treatment Plant, which also started operations in the 1930s, continues to be used as needed.
Water storage
Work on the Gross Reservoir Expansion Project, the subject of more than 20 years of planning, got underway in April 2022. The project will raise the height of the existing dam by 131 feet and is designed to increase the water storage capacity of Gross Reservoir.
Check out the work done on Gross Dam during summer 2025:
Gross Dam’s new look began to take shape in 2024 when workers began placing new, roller-compacted concrete at the base of the dam. During the summer of 2025, the new concrete steps on the face of the dam reached a major milestone: an elevation of 7,289 feet above sea level — the height of the crest of the original dam.
Raising the dam involves building 118 steps on the downstream side of the dam. Each step is 4 feet tall with a 2-foot setback. Work to raise the dam will continue as late as possible into 2025, until weather conditions make it too cold to place concrete.
At the height of construction, there are as many as 400 workers on-site.
Ongoing investments for the future
Denver Water’s capital plan calls for investing in its Main Replacement Program, the program that monitors, plans and schedules the replacement of water delivery mains buried under city streets. The utility has more than 3,000 miles of pipe in its system, enough to stretch from Seattle to Orlando.
Since 2022, Denver Water has replaced an average of 97,000 feet of water mains per year. And the utility is ramping up its work, with the goal of replacing 1% of its water mains — or more than 145,000 feet — every year.
In 2025, Denver Water finished replacing 5 miles of 130-year-old water pipe under East Colfax Avenue, from Broadway to Yosemite Street. The pipe replacement work was done in advance of the East Colfax Bus Rapid Transit project.
Crews also replaced more than 3,300 feet of pipe in downtown Littleton, including down Main Street. The work was done ahead of Littleton’s pending Project Downtown improvement project.
In 2026, Denver Water will begin work to replace water mains under Sheridan Boulevard between 13th and 29th avenues as it runs through Denver, Lakewood, Edgewater and Wheat Ridge. The project is expected to take 10-12 months and replace about 8,285 feet of cast iron pipe that was put into service in 1931.
Denver Water crews also are replacing any lead service lines they encounter during the pipe replacement projects.
Changing our landscapes
Colorado’s climate is warming, and it’s more important than ever to use our precious water resources efficiently. In Denver, temperatures have risen by about 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit over the past 40 years.
Denver Water is working with customers and partners to adjust our communities’ landscapes and public spaces using water-wise plants and trees that will thrive in our warmer climate. The utility in 2022 joined with water providers across the Colorado River Basin in pledging to expand their water conservation efforts and replace about 30% of the existing nonfunctional, water-intensive turfgrass in their respective service areas.
Get tips and information about rebates available for conserving water indoors and out at denverwater.org/Conserve.
This year, Denver Water held free workshops to help guide customers in remodeling turfgrass-heavy landscapes into more natural ColoradoScapes that include water-wise plants and cooling shade trees that offer more benefits for our climate, pollinators, wildlife and the environment.
The utility offers customers a limited number of discounts on Resource Central programs, including the popular Garden In A Box kits, which feature plant-by-number professional garden designs using water-wise plants. Customers also can take advantage of discounts on Resource Central’s sprinkler audit and turf removal programs.
Check out our new, free DIY Landscape Transformation Guide and the accompanying DIY video series on YouTube.
In 2025, Denver Water and its partners, the Colorado Water Conservation Board and Resource Central, released a new, free “DIY Landscape Transformation Guide” that takes customers step-by-step through the process of creating a water-wise landscape.
The free guide includes topics ranging from methods of removing Kentucky bluegrass to choosing and maintaining water-wise plants that fit naturally into Colorado’s semi-arid climate.
Denver Water’s YouTube channel also has a series of videos that cover DIY landscape topics, such as ways to remove existing turfgrass, ideas on installing and operating a drip system, and tips for planting new water-wise plants.
Denver Water is transforming its own landscapes, including a project with the City and County of Denver to remodel a curb strip in front of its Chips Barry Pump Station in northeast Denver’s Montclair neighborhood.
See the curb strip, remodeled into an element of green infrastructure, in action:
For years, the strip was covered with Kentucky bluegrass, which required extensive watering to keep it green. The project replaced the grass with more than 300 water-wise grasses, shrubs and flowers along with seven new trees.
When it rains, water will flow down the street and be redirected onto the strip as a new piece of green infrastructure. As the water flows through the newly planted area, it will slow down and be absorbed into the soil, to be used by the plants and trees.
These projects are examples of how Denver Water is planning for a warmer future by partnering with our community. Together, we can build a system and a landscape that supports our customers and creates a thriving, vibrant community now and in the future.