Antero Reservoir is a reservoir in the US state of Colorado. It was created by the first dam placed on the

South Platte River The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwestern United States, Midwest and the American Sout ...

in Park County, central

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. It is owned by

Denver Water Denver Water serves 1.4 million people in the City and County of Denver, Colorado, and a portion of its surrounding suburbs. Established in 1918, the utility is a public agency funded by water rates and new tap fees, not taxes. It is Colorado's ...

and supplies drinking water to the greater Denver metro region almost away.

History

Built in 1909, the earthen dam sat on a site believed by geologists to be a dry lake bed some 300 years old. This lake, named Green Lake, lies submerged in Antero Reservoir.

acquired the reservoir property in 1924, along with the

High Line Canal The High Line Canal (HLC) is a man-made waterway, used for irrigation and recreation, that serves the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area. It begins at a diversion dam on the South Platte River, some above the mouth of Waterton Canyon. From its headg ...

, and it has remained a part of the Denver Water system since 1924. The Reservoir was closed in 2002 for five years due to drought. The lake went completely dry, and the

Colorado Division of Wildlife Colorado Parks and Wildlife manages the state parks system and the wildlife of the U.S. state of Colorado. , the division managed the 42 state parks and 307 wildlife areas of Colorado. , the Colorado Natural Areas Program had 93 designated s ...

, in concert with Denver Water resurrected it in 2007. The Colorado Division of Wildlife re-stocked the lake with

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...

, brook trout, cutbow,

cutthroat trout The cutthroat trout is a fish species of the family Salmonidae native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean, Rocky Mountains, and Great Basin in North America. As a member of the genus '' Oncorhynchus'', it is one of the Pacific tro ...

, brown trout, and

splake The splake or slake (''Salvelinus namaycush x Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a hybrid of two fish species resulting from the crossing of a male brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') and a female lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush''). The name its ...

. In 2011, engineers began lowering the water level by two feet due to excess seepage. The dam has leaked since its construction, requiring it to operate under

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

restrictions. Beginning in May 2013, Antero reservoir was planned to have been drained because of drought conditions. It was not drained because of substantial snowfall in April 2013. In 2013, a $17 million project to rehabilitate the dam began. The reservoir was then expected to be drained in 2015 for necessary repairs, with re-filling in 2016. In the event, Denver Water began to empty the reservoir in June 2015 for "significant repairs to Antero Dam".

Climate

A weather station is operated at the reservoir site. It is notable for recording very cold temperatures, even by comparison to other sites of a similar elevation, when cold air pooling affects the reservoir site but not the more open areas around it. This is because the reservoir is surrounded by even higher terrain on all sides, leading to sinking air when the wind is calm. According to the

Köppen Climate Classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

system, Antero Reservoir has a

cold semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

, abbreviated "BSk" on climate maps.

Fishing

The shallowness of this reservoir makes it relatively warm for the location and altitude. This makes for exceptionally large, fast growing fish. Antero Reservoir is owned by Denver Water and overseen by Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Because it is not a state park, there are no fees for entry. Fishing is year-round, with ice fishing in the winter. A valid fishing license is required.

Stats

Elevation: , Capacity: , Surface area: .

References

{{authority control Reservoirs in Colorado Bodies of water of Park County, Colorado