The quota will supply 217,000 acre feet of Colorado River water for agricultural,
municipal, and industrial users in the District. One acre foot is nearly 326,000 gallons of water - roughly the amount used by two urban families in a year.

The C-BT quota is set each April to help farmers, ditch and irrigation companies, city water officials and rural domestic suppliers plan their water supply needs. The Board considers current snowpack, forecasted streamflow runoff and estimated direct diversions. Board members also examine year-end reservoir storage levels. They balance the supplemental needs of the region with the long-term storage re serves within the C-BT Project.

Despite limited precipitation in early winter, snowpack in the Upper Colorado and South Platte watersheds is 102 and 101 percent of average, respectively. Streamflow forecasts are for an average spring runoff in the South Platte River's tributaries.

We're about 20 to 30 percent ahead of where we were last year at this time, said Dennis Baker, NCWCD Supervisory Water Resources Engineer. Water from the Colorado-Big Thompson Project supplements spring runoff in the South Platte basin, local reservoirs and direct diversions from rivers.

Because C-BT Project water is supplemental to native supplies, less is made available in wet years and more in dry years. In an extremely wet year, the C-BT quota might be set as low as 50 percent. During a relatively dry year, the quota might be as high as 100 percent.