Jerd Smith

Aurora Water's proposed Wild Horse Reservoir in Park County would store 93,000 acre-feet of water, about double the capacity of the city's Spinney Mountain Reservoir, where water levels in 2026 were so low that boating was not permitted.

HPPR News

Aurora tests the waters of Colorado’s new wetland protection rules in Park County

Jerd Smith

Its application for a new reservoir is the first major review under the state’s Regulation 87, approved last year.

Cattle move along Colorado 149 toward summer pastures May 27, 2024, south of Blue Mesa Reservoir in Gunnison County. At least 1,500 head of cattle used the highway for 3 miles.

HPPR News

Farmers and researchers are learning how to keep fertilizer out of pristine Colorado rivers

Jerd Smith

CSU, Colorado state public health teams partnering with cattle operations to learn how field management practices can protect mountain lakes and streams

A workers aligns a section of 30-inch pipe into the Arkansas Valley Conduit ditch near Avondale Sept. 22, 2025. A number of towns in the lower Arkansas Valley that have water quality issues have contracted to receive water from the $1.39 billion 130-mile Arkansas Valley Conduit upon its completion. The conduit was authorized by Congress as part of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project in 1962 and will deliver filtered water ready for treatment from Pueblo Reservoir over 65 years later.

HPPR News

Arkansas Valley pipeline has about 3 years of cash left to keep building, despite presidential veto

Jerd Smith

But local and state officials say without more help from the feds, the project to bring safe drinking water to southeastern Colorado will be halted again