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 Sou ...

in Park County, central

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. It is owned by

Denver Water Denver Water is a water utility that operates as a Government agency, public agency serving the City and County of Denver, Colorado, and a portion of its surrounding suburbs. Established in 1918, the utility is funded by water rates and new tap ...

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, 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

Colorado Parks and Wildlife Colorado Parks and Wildlife manages the state parks system and the wildlife of the U.S. state of Colorado. Responsibilities include state parks, wildlife areas, and the Colorado Natural Areas Program. History *1937 – The state legislature ap ...

, 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 tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...

, brook trout, cutbow,

cutthroat trout The cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii'' clade) is a clade of four fish species of the Family (biology), family Salmonidae native to cold-water Tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean, Rocky Mountains, and Great Basin in North America. ...

, brown trout, and

splake The splake or slake (''Salvelinus namaycush × 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 most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

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 divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

system, Antero Reservoir has a

cold semi-arid climate Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...

, 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