Three of every four gallons of water used by Arvada residents come from Ralston Reservoir .

That key water source will gain new protection in January, when a 230-acre purchase of historic ranch land by Denver Water is expected to close. The sale will protect the reservoir from future development that could’ve impacted the quality of the drinking water source for tens of thousands of people.

Lazy Heart Ranch owner Steve Johansson calls the deal a “win-win” for both the Ralston Reservoir and his family’s century-plus attachment to the rolling land north of the reservoir.

“It’s time to wind it down,” he said of the land his great-grandfather William Johnson established in 1908 as the Lazy Heart Ranch.

Johansson’s mother recently moved from her longtime house on the ranch to a nursing ho

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