This page features photos of the Moffat Tunnel at the Winter Park Ski Resort, the Fraser River outside of Granby, Colorado, and Gross Reservoir in Boulder County.
The Moffat Tunnel is a 6.2-mile tunnel bored through the Continental Divide. It was originally created to build a railroad line that would provide train service through the previously impassable mountains. After the tunnel’s completion, members of Denver’s Water Board saw an opportunity to create a transbasin diversion that would bring water from the Fraser Valley, on the wetter, western side of the Continental Divide to the much drier Front Range, where communities were growing. Now, the water diversion system runs parallel to the railroad tracks within the Moffat Tunnel.
The tunnel has a diameter of 10.5 feet, which allows for the passage of 1,280 cubic feet per second of water. Before reaching the tunnel, the 32-mile Fraser River begins near Berthoud Pass. Water traveling through the Continental Divide ends up in Gross Reservoir. By supplying Front Range residents, the Fraser River has been drawn so low at times that it struggles to support aquatic life.
Gross Reservoir, owned and operated by Denver Water, provides 41,000 acre-feet of storage for water coming through the Moffat Tunnel. However, a proposed expansion project intends to raise the dam by 131 feet. This would make it the tallest dam in Colorado and increase Gross Reservoir’s storage capacity by 77,000 acre-feet.
The expansion project has been controversial, with some environmental groups claiming the project would violate the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and National Environmental Policy Act. Boulder County also attempted to step in the way when it required Denver Water to obtain land use permits to begin the project, although the county will likely settle for a mitigation payment from the major water utility soon.
Learn more:
| Date | 2010 and 2011 |
| Location | Colorado (map) |
| Credit | Ted Wood/The Water Desk |
| Rights | Free to reuse under Creative Commons license. |
Selected images from the gallery
Click to enlarge
To use these images
Please read and consent to the terms and license below for access to the download page.
To help us continue to offer this free material, we ask that you please:
- Credit the original photographer and the Water Desk as the source
- Email us a link to the published story at waterdesk@colorado.edu
- Consider sending The Water Desk your ideas for future content that we could add to the library
- Keep supporting professional photojournalists by hiring them for assignments
