The health of our waters is the principal measure of how we live on the land — Luna Leopold
@DenverWater hires contractor for Gross Reservoir Expansion Project
The Gross Reservoir Expansion Project will add 77,000 total acre feet — 72,000 for Denver Water use and 5,000 for an environmental pool that provides additional water for South Boulder Creek during low-flow periods — nearly tripling reservoir capacity.
Denver Water’s five-member Board of Water Commissioners on Wednesday approved a two-year, $4.5 million contract with Kiewit Barnard, a Joint Venture, for planning and pre-construction work during the final design phase of the $464 million Gross Reservoir Expansion Project.
If the team’s performance during the planning and pre-construction phase meets Denver Water’s expectations, a separate contract to build the dam may be signed between Denver Water and Kiewit Barnard.
“This is a major milestone in our 16-year effort to expand Gross Reservoir, as its original designers intended decades ago, to ensure a more reliable water supply in a future marked by greater uncertainty in weather patterns,” said Denver Water CEO/Manager Jim Lochhead.
Denver Water, the state’s largest water utility, serves 1.4 million people in Denver and surrounding suburbs.
Gross Dam enlargement concept graphic via Denver Water
The Gross Reservoir Expansion Project will raise the height of the existing dam, completed in 1954, by 131 feet, allowing the reservoir to nearly triple in size. When complete, the reservoir will be capable of holding about 119,000 acre-feet of water to provide greater system balance and resiliency.
The selection process for a construction manager/general contractor for the project began in August 2018 with information meetings, followed by a formal Request for Qualifications in October 2018. Three teams responded to the request and underwent extensive evaluations and interviews by a selection team that included experts from Denver Water, the project’s design engineer and subject matter experts.
The selection team focused on a value-based competitive process that examined each team’s qualifications, project approach, technical approach and cost.
“Kiewit Barnard met Denver Water’s high bar for doing a project that’s important not only to the 1.4 million people who rely on us for their drinking water, but also to the people who live around the reservoir,” said Jeff Martin, Denver Water’s program manager for the expansion project.
“We were impressed by the team’s experience with roller-compacted concrete dam construction, innovative approach and commitment to safe and responsible building practices,” Martin said.
The project calls for adding 900,000 cubic feet of concrete to the existing structure and building the first roller-compacted, concrete, arch dam in the United States. When complete, the Gross Dam will be the tallest in Colorado and the tallest roller-compacted concrete dam in the U.S.
“Kiewit Barnard, a Joint Venture, is very pleased to have been selected to work on this important project to support water demand for the greater Denver area,” said Jamie Wisenbaker, senior vice president of Kiewit Infrastructure Co., and an executive sponsor of the project. “We believe the team’s collective infrastructure experience in dam and reservoir construction and engineering will be a huge asset and look forward to safely delivering a high-quality project on time for Denver Water and the region.”
Kiewit is one of North America’s largest construction and engineering organizations with extensive heavy-civil experience in water/wastewater construction, including serving as lead contractor on the Oroville Spillways Emergency Recovery project in California. Kiewit is the No. 1 contractor for dams and reservoirs in the United States according to Engineering News-Record. The company also has strong roots and experience in Denver and across Colorado, including having constructed the Interstate 25 T-REX Expansion project, the U.S. 34 Big Thompson Canyon emergency repair project and the I-225 Light Rail Line project. The company also is building Denver Water’s new Northwater Treatment Plant.
Barnard Construction Co. Inc. brings a long track record of safety and quality on infrastructure projects in the U.S., including construction on more than 80 dams, reservoirs and dikes over the last four decades. The company’s work in this area includes new construction, raising dams and conducting emergency repairs. In 2019, Barnard was honored as a “Global Best Project” award winner by Engineering News-Record in the dam/environment category for the Muskrat Falls North and South Dams project located in Muskrat Falls, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.
The Gross Reservoir Expansion Project is awaiting a final federal government approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Provided the remaining federal approvals come by the end of this year, the project is slated to be complete in 2025.
When finished, the expanded reservoir and associated mitigation projects will create what the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment has described as a net environmental benefit to state water quality by generating a wide range of environmental improvements to streams, river flows and aquatic habitats.
2 thoughts on “@DenverWater hires contractor for Gross Reservoir Expansion Project”
This article is a slap in the face to those of us who live in Coal Creek Canyon. This project is being shoved down our throats, agreed upon by corporate fat cats in back rooms, and being planned in the laziest, most selfish way, that presents the most danger and disruption to the community possible, only so that DW can save a few bucks. No one in this community supports this project. Is a horrible, half-baked idea, and glutenous cash grab, poorly disguised as an improvement to something that is not the least bit broken. The demand for water in Denver is completely untenable and unsustainable, and this horrible “solution” will not change that, as the water to fill Gross Res another 150 feet does not exist, and will never be available to DW. This project will have a horrific impact on our natural environment, and cost people in this community their way of life, and possibly even their lives in the literal sense with the 92 trucks per week that will be needlessly driving up and down our winding canyon highway contually. This community is vehemently opposed to this pointless expansion, and DW is shoving it down our throats and trying to bully us into being happy about it with articles like this. That’s the real newsworthy story here.
Sorry Charley, I don’t understand how this project is a, “glutenous cash grab.” I don’t think you are making sense here.
I do understand that you are vehemently opposed to the project.
The project’s roots go back to the EPA veto of Two Forks and the Colorado River Cooperative Agreement, hardly corporate fat cats in back rooms. Denver Water is a public utility not a corporation.
Thanks for commenting but add a little more analysis and substance next time.
This article is a slap in the face to those of us who live in Coal Creek Canyon. This project is being shoved down our throats, agreed upon by corporate fat cats in back rooms, and being planned in the laziest, most selfish way, that presents the most danger and disruption to the community possible, only so that DW can save a few bucks. No one in this community supports this project. Is a horrible, half-baked idea, and glutenous cash grab, poorly disguised as an improvement to something that is not the least bit broken. The demand for water in Denver is completely untenable and unsustainable, and this horrible “solution” will not change that, as the water to fill Gross Res another 150 feet does not exist, and will never be available to DW. This project will have a horrific impact on our natural environment, and cost people in this community their way of life, and possibly even their lives in the literal sense with the 92 trucks per week that will be needlessly driving up and down our winding canyon highway contually. This community is vehemently opposed to this pointless expansion, and DW is shoving it down our throats and trying to bully us into being happy about it with articles like this. That’s the real newsworthy story here.
Sorry Charley, I don’t understand how this project is a, “glutenous cash grab.” I don’t think you are making sense here.
I do understand that you are vehemently opposed to the project.
The project’s roots go back to the EPA veto of Two Forks and the Colorado River Cooperative Agreement, hardly corporate fat cats in back rooms. Denver Water is a public utility not a corporation.
Thanks for commenting but add a little more analysis and substance next time.
John Orr
http://coyotegulch.blog/