"The decision allows Colorado’s largest water utility to triple a reservoir’s storage, despite concerns about diverting more water from the dwindling Colorado River."
"The unfinished expansion of Gross Reservoir near Denver can proceed after three judges ruled Tuesday in favor of the federal government and a water utility’s challenge to a lower court opinion halting construction.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Denver Water defended the dam expansion before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals against a challenge from the environmental group Save The Colorado. The organization sued the agency in part on the grounds that the Corps did not fully account for the dam’s impacts on the Colorado River system that is already stressed by climate change.
“It’s nonsensical to be putting more straws in, and further draining, the Colorado River at this point in history,” said Gary Wockner, director of Save The Colorado, in a statement released after the judges’ ruling.
The expansion of Denver Water’s Gross Reservoir would hold an additional 77,000 acre feet of water diverted from the declining Colorado River, enough to supply roughly 150,000 homes."
Jake Bolster and Wyatt Myskow report for Inside Climate News September 16, 2026.
