The blockbuster plan to turn Lakewood’s Bear Creek Lake into a much larger reservoir has all but run aground, after federal funding limits and unrelenting neighborhood pressure shrank the project to a far more modest idea. For now, that pause keeps hundreds of acres of cottonwoods, miles of trails and the park’s popular Soda Lakes from being swallowed by a far bigger pool.
At a recent Colorado Water Conservation Board meeting, CWCB staffer Erik Skeie told board members that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has indicated it will not provide money beyond what is already budgeted for the ongoing feasibility study. “So the volumes that we had before, no longer necessarily in play,” Skeie said, according to CBS News Colorado. He added that, at this point, the federal share of funding appears limited to analyzing whether the reservoir could be enlarged by only about 300 acre-feet.
What the mega-expansion would have meant
Early in the study, officials floated an extreme scenario that would have added roughly 20,000 acre-feet of storage, about a tenfold increase. Opponents say that version would have flooded major portions of the park, pushing the lake’s surface area to well over 600 acres. They warn that scale of change could inundate riparian habitat, picnic sites and long stretches of trail, and might expose ugly mud flats in dry years. The Colorado Sun has detailed those potential impacts and the neighborhood organizing that sprang up in response.
Only a modest increase is still on the table
Because the Corps says it does not have funding to pursue large reallocation alternatives, the only option it can currently finish studying is a roughly 300-acre-foot reallocation. That smaller change would raise the water level by about three feet, cover around six additional acres and carry an estimated price tag of about $3.5 million. Project documents have outlined other scenarios, including a 6,000-acre-foot option projected at about $148 million and the upper-end 20,000-acre-foot concept, but those bigger ideas now appear unlikely to advance, according to CBS News Colorado. Local advocates say they are relieved to see the focus narrow, yet argue that even a modest expansion will need detailed environmental review and solid, transparent funding plans.
Why Bear Creek was in the spotlight
State water planners and the Corps launched the feasibility study as one of several attempts to deal with long-term water supply shortfalls on the Front Range. The South Platte Basin alone faces projected gaps that reach into the hundreds of thousands of acre-feet by midcentury. The Colorado Water Conservation Board says the Bear Creek work is meant to test whether existing federal dams and reservoirs could be repurposed to store more water, while fully weighing flood-control, environmental and recreational impacts, according to the Colorado Water Conservation Board.
The CWCB and the Corps say the feasibility work already funded will continue, focused on the limited alternative now on the table. Any move to resurrect larger expansion concepts would require new agreements or fresh appropriations. The U.S. Army Corps owns most of the land at Bear Creek Lake Park, and the City of Lakewood manages recreation under a long-term lease. Both the city and the Corps post project documents and public comment details online. Residents can track updates and offer feedback through the City of Lakewood project page and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers planning page…