Frequently Asked Questions

Where are you located?
The Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District headquarters are located at the northwest corner of old U.S. Highway 287 (soon to be First Street) and Water Avenue (formerly Larimer County Road 10) in Berthoud. The address is 220 Water Avenue, Berthoud, Colo., 80513. The telephone number is (970) 532-7700. For a map and directions to the NCWCD, select Contact Us or Maps on the main Web page. The District's West Slope headquarters are at the Farr Pumping Plant on the north shore of Lake Granby.
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What materials are available?
The District has videos, DVDs, books, maps, brochures, pamphlets and teaching ideas available to the public.
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How do I open a document?
Most of the NCWCD's online documents are in Portable Document Format (PDF), and must be read with the Adobe Acrobat Reader computer program, which can be downloaded for free. Once installed, Acrobat Reader will allow you to view these documents or print them just as you would any other document. Go to Adobe to download and install the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
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Where can I find copies of District and Subdistrict Board meeting minutes?
On the District's main Web page select Information, then Minutes. You can search by month, year or category of minutes.
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I click on a video link and nothing happens
First, make sure that your Internet connection is working -- go to a site like http://www.yahoo.com/ or http://www.cnn.com/ , it’s very rare that these sites are not working. Once you’ve established that your Internet connection is working, make sure you have downloaded and installed the Windows Media Player. You may need to re-install the Windows Media Player.
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I can hear something, but I’m not seeing video
This is usually caused by one of two things -- either your connection to the Internet is too slow to view this particular video or the video has been incorrectly encoded. Windows Media includes a very low quality audio track as the “lowest common denominator” in all its streaming video files. If your connection to the Internet OR to that particular server is very slow all you may be able to do is hear audio.
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I get video, but it looks choppy
This is most likely due to the speed at which data is reaching your computer over the Internet. A faster connection will generally mean better video.
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The video keeps “buffering” -- what does that mean?
Windows Media Player will attempt to “store up” frames of video to insure a smooth playback / viewing experience. Lots of “buffering” coupled with the video stopping and starting usually indicates that you have a slow connection to the Internet.
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How do I install the Windows Media Player?
You need to use your computer, web browser and Internet connection to go to: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/EN/default.asp to download the latest version of Windows Media Player. The current version is 7.1, though if you have an older version of Windows Media Player installed on your computer it will “auto-update” itself when it encounters a new type of content.
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Why do I see a big broken puzzle graphic when I click on a video link?
This is usually caused by a missing plug-in. This means your browser does not know that it has the capability to play a certain type of video or you haven’t installed the correct video player. Typical causes of this behavior would be that you’ve been using Internet Explorer and Windows Media Player video -- then you click on a page which is supposed to contain some video content -- and a big, broken puzzle picture appears. This would indicate that the content you’ve chosen is either Real Video or QuickTime Video and you don’t have the plug-in.
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What is “auto-update”?
This is a process where the Windows Media Player encounters a newer video format and usually displays the message “There is a newer version of the Windows Media Player than the one you currently have installed. Would you like to upgrade your player now?” -- the correct response to this is to click the “Yes” button provided. This will allow you to continue to enjoy streaming media presented in the Windows Media Format.
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How long will the “auto-update” process take?
This depends upon your Internet connection. If you’re using a dial-up connection and have a very old version of Windows Media Player, this process could take an hour or more. For most users the process will take no more than 10 or 15 minutes. Users who have a high-speed Internet connection will have to wait only seconds. Unless your version of Windows Media Player is very old, you won’t have to re-start your system to enjoy the new version.
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What kind of computer works best for online videos?
All computers running with a 486 or above processor running Windows 95 or above have the capability of showing streaming video. The faster the processor you have and the more memory you have will make your system run faster -- streaming media will work better on a faster system. Macs can also run streaming video, but some of the earlier operating systems have problems with different versions of the media players. There is a new version (released in 2001 - Ver. 7.1) of the Windows Media Player that works very well on the Mac with OS 8 and above.
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What do I need to view online videos?
You need a computer (at least a 486 with 32 megs of ram running Windows 95), an Internet connection (dial-up with modem, DSL, cable modem or LAN) and a “player” application (Windows Media Player).
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