The Two Forks Debate: Water in the West

Read reservoir for pool and one of the West’s great environmental controversies begins to unsnarl. Read Two Forks Reservoir, a canyon-sized pool that Denver developers want to impound behind a giant dam on the South Platte River, a pool five times bigger than any other standing body of water in Colorado. Read, too, control over Denver’s economy, control over state politics, control over a precious resource that otherwise would be lost to faraway places like Phoenix, Tucson, and Los Angeles.

Control is the recompense dam proponents seek for the $37 million they already have spent without yet pouring a cubic yard of concrete and for the onus of soliciting $1 billion from city residents to build the dam if its constructio...