Join Our Team of River Protectors, and Keep The Bulldozers Out of Our Rivers!

Hi Friends of the Colorado River!

This week, the Boulder Weekly (based in Boulder, Colorado) provides a good read about one of our campaigns. We are working hard to stop the proposed expansion of “Gross Dam” in Boulder County. The Army Corps of Engineers has issued the permit to Denver Water to expand the dam, and our team of scientists and attorneys is poring over the permit and preparing a lawsuit. If expanded, Gross Dam would become the tallest in the state of Colorado. The project would be the biggest construction project in Boulder County history and cause massive negative impacts to the thousands of people who live on the hills and roads around the dam.

Further, the project would drain another 18,000 acre feet (over 5 billion gallons) of water on average every year out of the smaller Colorado River headwater streams in Grand County, Colorado, and use that water to fill the massively expanded dam. In fact, those streams are already severely depleted by Denver Water — the “Final Environmental Impact Statement” (FEIS) for the project says that fisheries in at least 10 of those headwater streams are “collapsed” or “near collapse.” The FEIS also says that fish populations in at least 15 tributary streams are already past, near, or on the brink of the “ecological tipping point”.

What’s worse? All of this is so Denver Water can keep offering cheap water to its customers to slather that water across thousands of acres of bluegrass lawns in the Denver metropolitan area. We think that’s insane. As an alternative to spending $400 million on a huge new dam, Denver Water should instead pay those same customers to install xeriscaping and low-water landscapes thereby protecting the river, saving money, conserving water, and increasing the resiliency and sustainability of the metro area.

That’s why we are preparing a lawsuit!

And that’s why your financial support matters! Please donate to Save The Colorado and JOIN OUR TEAM of river protectors. We CAN make a difference and help try to stop the insanity!

Please click here to donate.

Thank you for your support!

Gary Wockner
Director, Save The Colorado