Windy Gap Firming Project

Overview
In 1985 the Municipal Subdistrict, Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, finished constructing the Windy Gap Project near Granby, Colo. Windy Gap diverts water from the Colorado River to the Front Range via the federal Colorado-Big Thompson Project on a space-available basis. During wet years when water is available for pumping at Windy Gap, Lake Granby is often full with little or no capacity for Windy Gap water. The Windy Gap Firming Project was proposed to store Windy Gap water and ensure reliable future deliveries.

WGFP participants include the cities of Broomfield, Greeley, Longmont, Lafayette, Louisville, and Loveland; the towns of Erie, Evans, Fort Lupton and Superior; the Central Weld County Water District, the Little Thompson Water District, the Platte River Power Authority and the Middle Park Water Conservancy District.

Together, the participants supply water to about 425,600 people. That number is estimated to increase 56% to 754,700 by the year 2030. If additional water supplies are not obtained, the combined demand of all participants would exceed supplies by 2015 and result in an estimated water shortage of 64,000 acre-feet by the year 2030. West Slope communities in Grand and Summit counties partially served by the Middle Park Water Conservancy District anticipate an additional water demand of up to 17,000 acre-feet by 2030. The water supplies and future needs of these participants are detailed in the WGFP Purpose and Need report.

The purpose of the proposed WGFP is to deliver a firm annual yield of up to 30,000 acre-feet of water by 2010 from the Windy Gap Project. The WGFP would also provide up to 3,000 acre-feet of storage for the Middle Park Water Conservancy District in Grand and Summit counties. For additional information see the December 2004, October 2005 or August 2006 Project Updates.

Step 1: The Alternative Plan Formulation Report
The Subdistrict spent 2003 evaluating alternatives to accomplish the goals of the WGFP. These efforts are documented in the WGFP Alternative Plan Formulation Report. The report examined a myriad of options, including new and/or expanded water storage facilities located on both sides of the continental divide, re-operation of existing facilities, and water conservation as potentially feasible alternatives to satisfy project participants’ needs. The report identified seven alternative reservoir site combinations on both the East and West slopes. See the Report Executive Summary for additional details.

In early 2003 WGFP participants submitted the seven alternatives to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for review under the National Environmental Policy Act, triggering the need for an Environmental Impact Statement.

Step 2: The Environmental Review Process
Under the National Environmental Policy Act an environmental evaluation must be prepared whenever a proposed project includes a certain type of federal action. Because the proposed WGFP would require a permit to connect to Reclamation’s C-BT Project, NEPA compliance is required. As the federal operator of the C-BT, Reclamation is the lead federal agency responsible for NEPA compliance. Other federal, state and local entities and agencies are also involved in the NEPA process.

The first phase of the WGFP environmental review process began in fall 2003. Reclamation held three scoping meetings in Granby, Loveland and Lyons, Colo. Over 200 people attended the meetings and provided input to Reclamation and the Subdistrict on what issues should be included in the Environmental Impact Statement. The input from the scoping meetings is summarized in the Windy Gap Firming Project Scoping Report, available on the Bureau of Reclamation's website: http://www.usbr.gov/gp/ecao/.

Information collected during scoping included suggestions for new alternatives. Using a screening process developed with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Reclamation reevaluated the seven original alternatives as well as those identified by the public during scoping. The process used by Reclamation is described in the WGFP Alternatives Analysis Report. Four alternatives will be evaluated in detail in the Environmental Impact Statement:

1. Chimney Hollow Reservoir (90,000 acre-feet)
2. Chimney Hollow Reservoir (70,000 acre-feet) and
   Jasper East Reservoir (20,000 acre-feet)
3. Chimney Hollow Reservoir (70,000 acre-feet) and
   Rockwell/Mueller Creek Reservoir (20,000 acre-feet)
4. Dry Creek Reservoir (60,000 acre-feet) and
   Rockwell/Mueller Reservoir (30,000 acre-feet)

Reclamation is evaluating alternatives for potential effects to streamflow and reservoirs, water quality, wetlands, wildlife, threatened or endangered species, cultural resources, recreation, visual quality, socioeconomics, and other issues identified during scoping.

Reclamation will use the information obtained from these investigations to prepare the draft EIS, which is scheduled for release in Summer 2007. Reclamation will decide on what, if any project to permit. If Reclamation issues a WGFP permit to the participants, project design will take two years and construction will occur over an additional three to four year period.

Please contact the following NCWCD staff with questions:

Brian Werner, Public Information Officer	Jeff Drager, Project Manager
970-622-2229	970-622-2333
bwerner@ncwcd.org	jdrager@ncwcd.org