The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed a study evaluating
the affects the Rueter-Hess Reservoir will have on the
area.
A public hearing for comments and questions on the study will be
at 7 p.m., Tuesday, at High Prairie Farms Equestrian
Center.
The environmental impact statement was required by the Army
Corps because the reservoir and its diversion system, which pumps
water from Cherry Creek to the reservoir, sit in wetland areas,
said Parker Water and Sanitation District Engineer Jim
Nikkel.
The reservoir, which will store as much as 16,200 acre-feet of
water and inundate 470 acres of land, will be used primarily in the
summer, when average water use increases to three times that of
winter use, largely because of lawn and landscape irrigation, he
said.
The district also proposes drilling 64 wells in the Denver Basin
Aquifer, however, the reservoir will reduce Parker’s reliance on
groundwater to half the average annual demand, the statement
said.
The Parker Water and Sanitation District has some rights to
Cherry Creek water but can’t use it efficiently because the heavy
creek flow in the spring does not coincide with the summer need,
the statement said.
The district would be able to use water from the creek during
the peak of summer demand by storing the excess spring flow in the
reservoir.
During wet years, when the district is unable to use or store
excess water, it will be injected back into the Denver Basin
Aquifer. An estimated 44,000 acre-feet of water will be injected
into the aquifer over 50 years, the statement said.
The reservoir will affect 703 acres of vegetation and 6.7 acres
of wetland. Once the construction begins, 704 acres of wildlife
habitat would be permanently destroyed. The district, however,
proposes to preserve 1,490 acres of habitat.
The two-year construction project will cost $99.4 million. The
dam, reservoir, diversion facilities and pipelines will cost $49.8,
while the Denver Basin wells will cost $49.6 million.
The two-year study also examined the effects a smaller reservoir
and more wells, but no reservoir would have on the area.
The smaller reservoir has a surface area of 370 acres and is
capable of holding 11,200 acre feet of water. It would cost
$400,000 less than the proposed reservoir.
During summer months the smaller reservoir would provide an
average of 36 percent of the district’s demand, compared to 45
percent the Rueter-Hess reservoir.
It would affect slightly less land for vegetation, wildlife and
wetlands than the proposed reservoir.
“There is not a significant difference in impact results between
the proposed action [Rueter-Hess] and the reduced capacity
reservoir alternative,” the statement said.
Without the reservoir, the district would have to drill 284
wells to supply water to the increasing population. That would
ultimately cost the district $225 million and would have an adverse
effect on the water levels in the Denver Basin aquifer.
However, it would not affect the flow of the Cherry Creek or as
many acres of vegetation acreage, wildlife habitat or wetlands.