WILD HORSE FAQS

Q. How will you keep water from draining out of the reservoir?
A. We are in the process of evaluating the reservoir’s geology. However, the primary material in the reservoir footprint is clay, which has low connectivity. This means water is hard to transport through it, so it acts as a natural barrier. We anticipate that, like all water bodies, there will be some seepage.

Q. How will you stop evaporation?
A. Wild Horse Reservoir is at a high elevation, which reduces evaporation. It is anticipated to be deep at 150 ft, which reduces evaporation. All reservoirs do have some evaporation.

Q. Why do cities keep putting in new reservoirs?
A. Droughts greatly challenge Colorado. Wild Horse Reservoir is needed to improve Aurora Water’s system reliability and resiliency, help expand its potable reuse to meet future water needs and provide water management flexibility during droughts or system emergencies. Having more reservoirs also allows for better management of existing water rights by allowing flexibility during maintenance, providing consistent levels needed for environmental management and recreational use, and greater drought protection.

Q. Does Aurora own the water? What does ‘no new water rights’ actually mean?
A. Yes, Aurora already owns the water rights that will be placed in a new reservoir. Under Colorado law, a water right is the right to store, divert, and use water. For Wild Horse Reservoir, there are no new water rights, meaning that Aurora Water already has the right to use the water that will be stored in the reservoir. Given our current storage capacity and locations, not all water rights can be stored and used throughout the year.

Q. What is changing with the realignment of CR-53?
A. Aurora Water is working with Park County to relocate portions of CR 53 that the proposed Wild Horse Reservoir will impact. The alignment below is proposed as it will result in fewer stakeholder impacts and will be easier to maintain over time. Realignment work is anticipated to begin after permitting is complete.

• Will it be paved? – The nature of the newly realigned CR53 will be determined based on discussion with Park County
• Where exactly will it be? – The proposed realignment is still preliminary. The map that is available at WildHorseReservoir.org reflects the general path.
• Who will own the land that the new road will go along – The realignment was designed to fit within existing rights-of-way along existing property boundaries. The right-of-ways will be turned over to the county.

Q. Once WHR is built and if there is recreation, who will manage the increased traffic on the roads?
A. This is yet to be determined and will be based on discussions with Park County.

Q. If boating is allowed, how will you prevent invasive species?
A. As we do with all of our reservoirs, we will work with the partnering agency who will manage recreation, and use the current best practices, including visual inspections, to prevent invasive species.

Q. Will any of the water go to the Hartsel area?
A. Wild Horse Reservoir would store raw, untreated water. Providing water to Hartsel would be challenging and a dramatic change in the scope of the project. This would require the development of a full water treatment facility and transmission and distribution infrastructure system that must meet federal and state drinking water regulations. Even if we were to provide access to the reservoir and Aurora’s water rights, Hartsel, which is unincorporated and has no drinking water utility, does not have the capacity or resources to serve this function.

Q. Will there be ice fishing?
A. Any specific recreation activities have yet to be determined. For reference, at Aurora’s Spinney Mountain Reservoir, we currently work with Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Ice fishing is not permitted on Spinney Mountain for safety reasons.

Q. Who is the contractor for the pipelines?
A. Aurora Water selected Colorado-based Flatiron and joint-venture partners Dragados USA and Sukut Construction (FDS JV) to provide Construction Manager/General Contractor (CM/GC) services for the proposed Wild Horse Reservoir. They will hire the subcontractors. Dewberry, an engineering and construction firm, is currently under contract to design and build the connections to the existing Otero Pipeline, so it’s likely that they will also be used to complete the pipeline work.

Q. How will WHR affect the levels in Spinney?
A. Spinney Mountain Reservoir will be used primarily to store Aurora’s South Platte water rights and to help us manage the voluntary flow program to support the fishery downstream. Some variation in reservoir levels can continue to be expected based on conditions such as city needs, drought, and seasonal changes.

Q. How many shore miles will WHR be?
A. Approximately 12 miles.

Q. How deep will WHR be?
A. We are anticipating approximately 150 ft.

Q. Where will this rank on the top reservoirs in CO?
A. This reservoir will store 93,000 acre-feet (af) of water, placing it around 23rd on the list of
reservoirs by volume in Colorado.

Q. How does reuse play into this? Will Aurora Reservoir and Quincy Reservoir be full on reuse water?
A. Reuse is the ultimate form of water conservation, and storage gives reuse a place to work. As we reuse water, we can store more water back to meet needs, especially during droughts. Mountain water also helps us blend down the salinity in our reuse water to keep it high quality. We do not store our reused water; rather, we put it into our drinking water system.

Q. Are you considering building affordable housing in Hartsel for workers and then turning them over to the county?
A. We have not talked to the county about the viability of this suggestion. The contractor will hire as many locals as possible who don’t require housing. Some other options will be explored, including bussing workers in from Woodland Park or Bailey, using RVs, and constructing housing on city-owned property.

Q. What is an acre-foot?
A. An acre-foot (af) is 325,851 gallons, and is the amount of water it takes to cover an acre of land one foot deep. One acre is about the size of a football field. It. An acre-foot of water can serve three households in Aurora.

Photo Credit: Water Education Foundation

Q. How much water does a household use in a year?
A. Aurora Water uses one acre-foot to serve three households per year. Other municipalities estimate that an acre-foot serves 2-2.5 households per year, but given Aurora’s aggressive conservation measures, less water can serve more people.

Q. How much water does the City of Aurora use overall?
A. The city uses approximately 55-58,000 af per year to serve over 400,000 people.

Q. How much storage does the City of Aurora currently have?
A. Currently, Aurora Water has 156,000 af in reservoirs. Storage increases resiliency to droughts and system outages.

Q. How many acre-feet is the proposed Wild Horse Reservoir?
A. It is proposed at 93,000 af, which is enough to provide a drought reserve for up to two years.

Q. How does that compare to other reservoirs?
A. Wild Horse Reservoir will be Aurora’s largest reservoir and store about triple the water volume that Aurora Reservoir has, over four times the water volume of Denver’s Antero, almost double the volume of Aurora’s Spinney Mountain Reservoir, but only about a third of the volume of Denver’s Dillon Reservoir.