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| Colorado-Big Thompson Quota Set at 80 Percent | ||
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LOVELAND, Colo. - Below normal snowpack and precipitation helped persuade the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District (NCWCD) Board of Directors to set its highest Colorado-Big Thompson (C-BT) Project quota since 1995. With snowpack levels 20 to 25 percent below normal, stream runoff projections are down, said NCWCD General Manager, Eric Wilkinson. Correspondingly, the Board voted to make more water available from the C-BT Project to meet agricultural, municipal, and industrial needs. Board President, Mike Applegate, stressed that the Board will monitor conditions closely and re-examine water supplies in May. The District can increase the C-BT quota at that time if needed, stated Applegate. If necessary, we could hold a special Board meeting if it would help our water users. The Board's decision provides 250,000 acre feet of Colorado River water for agricultural, municipal, and industrial users through the NCWCD. An acre foot is nearly 326,000 gallons of water, or roughly the amount required to meet the annual needs of two urban families. Along with the NCWCD's carryover water program, which allows users to carry a portion of their unused water supply into the following year, the 80 percent quota should help maintain the region's water supplies. This kind of year is exactly why the C-BT Project was built, emphasized Wilkinson. C-BT Project water released from storage will compensate for the mild winter and lower streamflow. We've been blessed in recent years with the plentiful snowpacks and higher-than-normal streamflows. Mother Nature may be going the other way. The C-BT quota is set each April to assist farmers, city water officials, rural domestic suppliers, and ditch and irrigation companies in planning their water supply needs. The 12-member Board considers current snowpack conditions, forecasted streamflow runoff, estimated direct diversions, and current reservoir storage. In addition, they examine year-end reservoir storage levels. The Board then balances the supplemental needs of the region with the long-term storage reserves within the C-BT Project. District Engineer Dennis Baker has monitored snowpack and streamflow data for more than a decade. He expects spring runoffs to be below average and well below those of the last few years. We are forecasting below normal streamflows in the South Platte Basin, said Baker. The snowpack levels dropped 21 percent during March. Our estimates are that Poudre River streamflows will be 85 percent of average, the Big Thompson River 67 percent, the St. Vrain River 71 percent, and Boulder Creek 66 percent. Luckily, storage reservoirs are near capacity due to the past few years of plentiful water supplies, said Baker. This is the time of year the NCWCD reminds all citizens that water is a scarce and precious resource that must be conserved in both dry and wet years. |
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