On May 1, Denver Water began transferring water from the Antero Reservoir to the Cheesman Reservoir.
This relocation is expected to save roughly 5,000 acre-feet, or 6 billion liters of water from evaporating, accounting for roughly 25 percent of the Antero Reservoir capacity. The move will secure one year’s worth of water for nearly 20,000 single family Colorado homes and is part of Denver Water’s drought response protocol.
In most years, runoff from winter’s snowpack can compensate for Antero’s losses to evaporation. This year, after receiving only 37 percent of the normal precipitation, there won’t be enough to make up the difference.
This prompted Denver Water to begin transferring the reservoir’s entire volume 50 miles east to Cheesman, which loses far less water to evaporation annually.
As one of the region’s major water basins, draining Antero Reservoir has serious repercussions for local ecosystems despite the municipal benefits.
9News reporter Marc Sallinger explained that “Colorado Parks and Wildlife is asking as many people as possible to come fish here before the water is gone” to combat this devastation.
Sallinger points to fishing guide Travis Sawyer, who is offering free guided trips to Antero Reservoir so people can enjoy the reservoir before it’s drained.
Denver Water and Colorado Parks and Wildlife are working to relocate fish, but Sawyer warns that those left behind will be “bone dry skeletons by next year.” There will be no bag limits on any species through May 13.
Sawyer is among many in the area who will feel the economic impact of the transfer. Antero Reservoir sits in the South Park basin that is home to a thriving recreational fishing community.
Its draining will effectively shut down a fishing season that local guides depend on for their livelihood and the beloved montane fishery will be inaccessible for the foreseeable future.
It remains unclear when the Antero Reservoir will be refilled, as that is dependent on the drought being lifted. This measure was last taken in 2002, when Colorado faced similar severe drought conditions, and was resolved when the following winter brought an abundance of snow.
The reservoir was also drained in 2015, though that was for dam maintenance and unrelated to a drought.
