Aurora's Water Supply

Aurora is located in a semi-arid (or dry) climate. Our average annual precipitation (snow or rain) is about half of the national average. Since we receive so much less water, we cannot rely on precipitation in Aurora for all of our water needs.  

Water is measured in acre feet. One acre foot is equal to 325,851 gallons or the amount of water that would cover one acre of land at a level of one foot deep. An acre foot of water would almost fill a football field with water one foot deep. Aurora’s water supply system holds approximately 156,000 acre feet of water. 

Aren't those the same thing?

Actually, they’re not. Created by people, a reservoir collects and stores water for drinking or irrigation. A reservoir can also capture water for flood prevention. A reservoir has a dam that holds the water. A lake is a naturally occurring body of water. We store our water across 12 lakes and reservoirs.

Water is moved between reservoirs in three ways :

• Through tunnels

• Pipelines

• Rivers

About 95% of Aurora’s water supply starts as snow in the Rocky Mountains approximately 180 miles from Aurora. About 5% of Aurora’s water supply is from groundwater. Aurora Water does snowfall measurements every two weeks in the winter to estimate the amount of water we will receive in the spring during snowmelt runoff.

Explore the map by clicking the arrows in the top right corner, then use the plus and minus signs to zoom in and out. Click on the yellow points to learn more.

About 50% of Aurora's water supply comes from the South Platte River Watershed, 25% from the Colorado River Watershed and 25% from the Arkansas River Watershed.

River basins are also referred to as watersheds, which isn’t a shed of water. A watershed is an area of land where water flows into one major body of water, such as a lake, creek or river.

In Aurora, we live in the South Platte River watershed, which means that the rain or snow falling near your home will eventually flow into the South Platte River. This river is 439 miles long and water travels all the way through the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico.

Not only do kids like you call the South Platte River watershed home, but also a large number of plants and animals as well. You can learn more about them by checking out field guides from the library or take a walk with your family. See how many plants and animals you can find and identify. We’ll also take a look at some of the wildlife that live in the places Aurora gets its water.

About 25% of Aurora’s water comes from the Colorado River Watershed.

Homestake Reservoir, located in the Colorado River Watershed was built in the 1960s and is a cooperative project with Colorado Springs. Homestake holds 42,900 acre feet. Aurora’s share is 21,388 af.

You’ve probably heard your grandparents or even parents talk about how when they were younger they didn’t have computers or cell phones. When they watched movies at school, it was on a projector like the one here that would show the image on a wall or a screen. Check out the fabulous sound and video quality from this old footage of the Homestake Reservoir from 1967.

The Homestake tunnel is 28,500 linear feet long. Water moves from Homestake Reservoir through the mountains to a discharge point west of Leadville into Turquoise Lake.

Busk Ivanhoe is a water collection system that moves water from the west slope into Turquoise Reservoir.

The original Busk Ivanhoe tunnel was a railroad tunnel built in 1891. In 1922 it was converted into a car tunnel. Then, after a partial collapse in 1943, it was closed to transportation and was converted to move water, which travels from the Colorado River Basin to the Arkansas River Basin.

About 25% of Aurora’s water supply comes from the Arkansas River Watershed.

Turquoise Lake is located near Leadville at 9,868 feet elevation. Owned and operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, it was completed in 1968. We own 20,000 acre feet of storage and leases an additional 15,000. Colorado Springs and the Pueblo Board of Water Works also own water in the reservoir.

The Twin Lakes Reservoir and Canal Company project was constructed in the 1930s. Aurora Water can store approximately 2,724 acre feet of water in Twin Lakes.

Although Aurora owns only 5% of the water in Twin Lakes, it is very important. All of Aurora’s water that is collected from the Colorado and Arkansas river basins travels through Twin Lakes to the Otero Pump Station.

Aurora leases 10,000 acre feet in Pueblo Reservoir from the Bureau of Reclamation. This storage is used to hold Aurora’s water rights from the Lower Arkansas River.

Lake Meredith holds 39,803 acre feet and Henry has 9,363 acre feet. However, Aurora’s capacity in both is 9,797 acre feet.

Otero Pump Station

Aurora relies on the Otero Pump Station to convey its Arkansas and Colorado river basin water to the South Platte basin. Located on the Arkansas River northwest of Buena Vista, Colorado the pump station can move 180 million gallons a day. It was constructed in 1964 and is shared with Colorado Springs.

About 50% of Aurora’s water supply comes from the South Platte River Basin.

Water from the Otero Pump Station is sent to Spinney Mountain Reservoir. This is Aurora's largest reservoir and can hold 53,651 acre feet of water.

Spinney and many of the other areas nearby have what’s considered to be some of the best fishing in Colorado, also known as Gold Medal fishing. 

From Spinney Mountain Reservoir, water flows into the South Platte River and continues on its journey toward Aurora.

Jefferson Lake was formed by a glacier and is more than 220 feet deep. Imagine how deep that is compared to a swimming pool, which is usually about 10 feet deep.

Strontia Springs is owned and operated by Aurora Water and Denver Water. Located approximately six miles upstream of the mouth of the Waterton Canyon on the South Platte River, it was completed in 1986. Almost all of Aurora’s Upper South Platte water rights are delivered to Strontia Springs Reservoir.

Waterton Canyon is a great place to hike, and you may even see Colorado’s state animal, the Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep. 

Rampart Reservoir and Dam is located in Douglas County near Waterton Canyon. At 5,914 feet elevation, this reservoir was completed in 1967. This reservoir is filled via a series of tunnels and pipelines from Strontia Springs Reservoir. The Rampart Pipeline delivers the water from this reservoir to Quincy and Aurora reservoirs.

Quincy Reservoir, with a capacity of 2,698 acre feet, is located in Aurora. This reservoir is filled via the Rampart Pipeline and with water pumped from the Cherry Creek Well Field.

Quincy reservoir has 3.5 miles of soft trails and is perfect for viewing wildlife and waterfowl. Be sure to look all around you as you never know what you may find, such as this owl and owlets. 

The reservoir also has picnic tables, a boat launch and boat rentals, as well as a fishing dock.

Located in southeast Aurora, this is our second largest reservoir and can store up to 31,679 a.f. of water. It’s also our newest reservoir and was completed in 1990. The reservoir is filled with water from the Rampart Pipeline, which we’ll learn about soon.

In addition to water storage, the reservoir provides many recreational opportunities, including a fantastic sand beach where you can build sand castles, swim and play volleyball. Be sure to stop by the Senac Creek Nature Center as well.

Prairie Waters is an innovative system that reuses water by recapturing river water. It starts in Brighton, where 23 wells pull the water through hundreds of feet of sand and gravel in a process called Riverbank Filtration. The water is then piped 34 miles to the Peter D. Binney Water Purification Facility.

Aurora Water is nationally recognized for its award-winning, high-quality drinking water and its environmentally conscious reclaimed water facility. Aurora Water is the only utility in the country that has a Phase IV “Excellence in Water Treatment” designation from the Partnership for Safe Water for its three water purification facilities. Our reclaimed water facility has a Platinum Recognition from the National Association of Clean Water Agencies.

The Peter D. Binney facility is a 70-acre, state-of-the-art water treatment facility near the Aurora Reservoir. The plant uses advanced oxidation, which destroys unwanted contaminants with high-intensity ultraviolet rays. The water is then sent through an activated carbon filtration process to remove remaining particulates. It’s one of the most advanced water purification processes in the country. The facility can treat 50 million gallons of water per day.

Online since 1967, the Griswold Water Purification Facility can treat up to 80 million gallons of water a day from Rampart and the Cherry Creek Well Fields.

Built in 1982, Wemlinger treats 80 million gallons of water a day from Rampart and Aurora reservoirs.

Aurora Water also has one of the first water reuse facilities in Colorado. Built in 1968, Sand Creek treats up to five million gallons of water that is first used by residents and businesses. The water is then sent to some of Aurora’s parks and golf courses to use on landscape.