The City of Lakewood tweeted about the closures on Friday.

The City of Lakewood has closed both Big Soda Lake and Bear Creek Reservoir in Bear Creek Lake Park effective immediately. The waterways were closed because of the number of visitors that have frequented their shores. 

While the city tried to work with Jefferson County Public Health to follow health requirements regarding COVID-19, it wasn't able to meet the mandates.

"In order to comply with Jefferson County Public Health and State mandates, Big Soda Lake, the reservoir and associated activities at Bear Creek Lake Park are closed, effective immediately," said lakewood.org.

UPDATE:

Here’s the deal: The City of Lakewood has been working closely with our partner, Jeffco Public Health, to ensure we are aligning with all public health mandates. Regretfully, we have been unable to comply at Bear Creek Lake Park’s Big Soda Lake and Bear Creek Lake Park

— City of Lakewood, Colorado (@LakewoodColo) July 11, 2020

In a follow-up tweet, the city said, "Therefore, we made the decision to close water activities at the park until we can find a solution that ensures the safety of our residents and visitors and is approved by Jeffco Public Health."

This is not too surprising, as the local reservoirs and open areas have been jam-packed with people trying to escape the summer heatwave we've been experiencing. It might also be in reaction to the recent legal trouble Bandimere Speedway, also in Jefferson County, has experienced. After allowing more people onto its grounds than permitted for its July 4 celebration, the speedway has found itself in legal hot water. 

So far, there is no word on when the lakes may be reopened and what that would look like in terms of number of visitors, activity, etc.

You can follow the latest updates on closures and possible reopenings on the lakewood.org update site.