It’s been more than six years since Aurora and Colorado Springs’ proposed Whitney Reservoir concept first surfaced with a raging controversy over test drilling for a dam on U.S. Forest Service land in the Homestake Creek Valley near Red Cliff in southeastern Eagle County.
Asked recently what the status of that locally unpopular proposal is, Aurora Water Deputy Director of Internal and External Affairs Shonnie Cline said by email, “As for Whitney, there has been no movement lately.”
Movement would mean landing on one of several proposed configurations for a dam on lower Homestake Creek and submitting all the applications needed for a federal permit to build what would be called Whitney Reservoir, which would flood land Aurora purchased in the valley and provide up to 20,000 acre-feet (roughly 6.5 billion gallons) a year for the two Front Range cities…