Chatfield Reservoir is more than just a beautiful place.

It provides safety from flooding, recreational activities, supports several species of birds, wildlife and aquatics, and stores drinking water supply for local communities. You can help preserve Chatfield now by helping keep the Chatfield watershed clean. The Chatfield Watershed Authority promotes the protection of water quality in the Chatfield Watershed for recreation, fisheries, drinking water supplies, and other beneficial uses.

To protect these beneficial uses, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Water Quality Control Commission, adopted Regulation #73. This regulation includes limits on the amount of phosphorus that can get into the reservoir. The number one source of phosphorus to Chatfield Reservoir is from nonpoint sources (NPS). Nonpoint sources of nutrients, such as phosphorus, come from many diffuse sources. NPS pollution is caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground. As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters, and even our underground sources of drinking water.