Aurora officials say water is increasingly difficult to find. So they've tapped an inactive mine.

A Denver suburb has finalized an unusual deal to acquire water from an inactive gold mine.

Aurora city officials said Friday the $34 million deal gives the city the rights to about 1,400 acre-feet of water a year from the London Mine outside Alma, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the west.

An acre-foot is enough to supply one typical U.S. household for a year.

City officials say the water would normally flow into the South Platte River, which eventually passes through the Denver area, but a geologic fault traps it in the Park County mine.

Read more: https://coloradosun.com/2018/11/18/aurora-water-london-mine-purchase/


A graphic explaining how the London Mine water purchase works. (Handout)