Nov. 16, 2022

The First Season of Colorado River Connectivity Channel Construction is Nearly Complete 

Only a couple months have passed since the Colorado River Connectivity Channel's Aug. 23 groundbreaking, but abundant signs of construction progress are obvious across the bottom of an emptied Windy Gap Reservoir.  

While there are still several more years of work to go, the Colorado River Connectivity Channel, once complete, will provide a flow connection upstream and downstream of Windy Gap Reservoir to improve stream health and aquatic habitat.  

Among the key construction achievements this season is the new dam embankment, which will help create a smaller Windy Gap Reservoir and open up an area just south of the reservoir where the new Connectivity Channel will be built. The embankment lift work will wrap up in the spring before the slurry wall is installed shortly thereafter.  

Colorado River Connectivity Channel construction October 2022.

Grading within the new channel footprint has been a focus of construction this year and will continue next season. Construction is expected to wrap up in 2024, with several additional years beyond that needed to fully establish the channel's surrounding vegetation.  

The photo above (taken last month from the southwest corner of the existing Windy Gap Reservoir dam with the Windy Gap Pump Plant in the distance) shows the construction area and extensive dirt work that has taken place since the August groundbreaking.    

The Connectivity Channel is one of the key elements of an estimated $90 million in environmental benefits associated with Chimney Hollow Reservoir construction. Chimney Hollow is being built to improve the reliability of the Windy Gap Project. As part of an agreement with West Slope entities to store Windy Gap water in Chimney Hollow Reservoir, the Northern Water Municipal Subdistrict and project participants are conducting extensive mitigation and enhancement measures in the Colorado River headwaters, as well as elsewhere.