Work on the Downing Reservoir at the Denver Federal Center in Lakewood is in its final stages and should be complete by May, according a project manager at the site.
Lakewood commuters in the area will likely see traffic impacts on Kipling throughout the next few months.
Construction began on the pond, visible near West Sixth Avenue and Kipling Street in March of last year and has removed 340,000 tons of soil from the area, carried by 14,000 trucks during the process.
Of this, 50,000 tons had been classified as regulated asbestos containing soil and 85,000 tons was pond sediment contaminated by WWII munitions manufacturing wastewater treatment operations. Nine million gallons of contaminated water has been treated during the duration of the $20 million project.
The state had approached General Services Administration, which operates the Federal Center, at the site to take care of any contamination in the complex and the reservoir.
“The state and GSA have been working together for a number of years on contamination issues on the Fed Center,” project manager Dana Coolbroth said.
During World War II, the site that is now the Federal Center was the Denver Ordnance Plant and the area was used for the industrial wastewater treatment facility. There was also a construction debris landfill north of the pond.
When complete, the pond will double in size from 4.5 acres to 9 acres and be filled with water from Clear Creek that will be used by the Federal Center.
Beautification efforts will also take place to make the pond more of a destination area for employees at the Federal Center. The site will not be open to the public in May, just to Federal Center employees.
“It will provide benched terraces and we’re working with the DFC to see what they want to use,” Coolbroth said.