The Ashland Reservoir in Wheat Ridge is getting a $37 million upgrade over the next three years.
Contractors for Denver Water began demolition earlier this month of the reservoir’s west underground storage tank. Once a new west tank is back in service, the east tank also will be torn out and replaced.
Travis Thompson, a spokesman for Denver Water, said the Ashland project at West 30th Avenue and Harlan Street is part of a $120 million investment in treated water storage over the next decade.
“We have a huge need to invest in our system,” Thompson said. “Nationwide, the infrastructure for water is aging.”
The Ashland Reservoir has been used to store water since the 1890s, said Martin Garcia, a design project manager for the water utility.
When Ashland opened, it was an open-air reservoir with an earthen bottom. Concrete floors and wood roofs were added in the 1910s and early 1920s. A concrete roof replaced the wood in the 1960s. “One hundred twenty years — they’ve reached the end of their useful life,” Garcia said.
The new underground tanks will be circular in size and smaller in volume.
Each will hold about 10 million gallons of treated water; the existing tanks could store up to 20 million gallons each.
Denver Water has 30 treated water storage tanks throughout the metro area.
“The way our system has grown, we don’t need as much here,” Garcia said.
The first tank is scheduled to be completed by mid-2014, with demolition of the east basin planned to begin that fall. The entire project should be done by the end of 2016, according to the anticipated timeline.
