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Data View water quality data. Click Here

Welcome! To the Barr Lake and Milton Reservoir Watershed Association (BMW).

The BMW watershed is the area of land that drains into Barr Lake and Milton Reservoir.  It starts at Cherry Creek, Chatfield and Bear Creek dams and goes through the Denver Metro area where some of the water in the S. Platte River is diverted to Barr Lake and Milton Reservoir.

BMW fun facts:

1. 50% of the state or one in every two Coloradans live in the BMW.
2. Most of the water that fills Milton and Barr each year comes from the S. Platte River that runs through Denver
3. More than 35 tons of invasive common carp – that’s 8,600 fish and counting! – have been removed from Barr Lake.

Our mission is to keep the water clean in Barr Lake and Milton Reservoir.  To do that, we’ve begun a campaign to encourage everyone to use Phosphorus Free Lawn Fertilizers.  In our watershed, the soils are naturally high in Phosphorus, so, with only a few exceptions, we don’t need it in our lawn fertilizers.  Excess Phosphorus, running off lawns can cause algal blooms, the green plants that grow in water and, when there’s too many, can make our water unhealthy.  Learn more about what you can do.

Join the coalition to fight the algae monster by clicking here (hyperlink to www.lovecoloradowater.org) to learn what you can do.  Click here to access files and materials about the campaign.

Lawn Fertilizer fun facts:

1. Lawns are the biggest crop by area in the U.S. at 40 million acres
2. 40% of our drinking water is used outside of our homes for irrigation
3. Most of our lawn soils contain enough phosphorus to grow a healthy lawn

Fun phosphorus facts:

1. 78% of the phosphorus applied to our urban landscape is washed downstream.
2. One pound of phosphorus can grow as much as 500 pounds of algae.
3. Aquatic ecosystems require 1,000 times less phosphorus than terrestrial systems.

Click here or on the logo above to access the messaging and marketing materials for the H2Only campaign.

The Barr-Lake and Milton Reservoir Watershed Association (BMW) appreciates your interest in our watershed. Contact us if you have any questions. If you’d like to participate in one of our events or see how we monitor water quality, check our Calendar and check our Outreach page. Thank you again for your interest.