On April 3, 2025, federal Judge Christine Arguello, with the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado, issued a ruling halting the Gross Reservoir Expansion Project, despite 23 years of careful planning and permitting involving Denver Water and multiple local, state and federal agencies.

(Read Denver Water’s statement on the April 3 ruling here.)

Jeff Martin, Denver Water’s program manager for the Gross Reservoir Expansion Project, met with reporters April 9 at Gross Dam to discuss the project and the impacts of the ruling. 

“We’ve been working on this project for over three years, and over 350 people have dedicated their time, resources and passion to building (Gross Dam higher), so Denver and the communities around Denver can have a bright and vibrant future, so we can have a clean, reliable clean water supply to our tap,” Martin said. 

Listen to Jeff Martin, program manager for the Gross Reservoir Expansion Project, on this critical construction effort: 

The project will raise the height of the existing dam by 131 feet, nearly tripling the water storage capacity of Gross Reservoir and reducing the imbalance in storage capacity between Denver Water’s separate, unconnected north and south systems.