WHY WILD HORSE RESERVOIR

The Colorado Water Plan projects a significant gap in water supply statewide by 2050, and projects like Wild Horse are being planned to help meet that need. A new Aurora reservoir is identified in the Colorado Water Plan as a project needed to meet the water supply gap within the South Platte River Basin. Wild Horse was one of 19 potential water supply projects Aurora considered in its 2017 Integrated Water Master Plan.

Wild Horse 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.

Colorado’s extreme weather patterns are producing more intense droughts followed by some very wet years. Wild Horse would provide an additional water savings account. Aurora would bank water in wet years, as well as the water saved through conservation, to use in dry times.