Irrigation company dedicates new reservoir

A northern Weld County irrigation company has completed a $10 million water project with the dedication Friday of a storage reservoir northeast of Greeley.

Stockholders of the New Cache la Poudre Irrigation & Reservoir Co. approved the project in 2002. The company then got a $7 million loan from the Colorado Water Conservation Board to help with financing of the project which included the construction of two new reservoirs about 15 miles east of Lucerne.

The larger of those storage facilities, the Cornish Plains Reservoir and Recharge Facility, was dedicated Friday.

Don Magnuson, the irrigation company's superintendent, said Cornish has 250 acres of surface space and will hold about 2,600 acre-feet of water once it is filled to capacity. If needed, that water can be released back to the system to be used by stockholders at the lower end of the ditch.

The No. 2 ditch, which is used by the company, provides irrigation water to about 40,000 acres. It comes off the Poudre River between Timnath and Windsor. The first reservoir of the system is the Kern Reservoir, more commonly known as Windsor Lake. The ditch then comes off that lake and parallels Colo. 392 and Weld County Road 392 to Barnesville, east of Lucerne.

Two reservoirs and an equalizer were built between Barnesville and Cornish, with the Cornish Reservoir being the last and largest. It was designed by Smith Geotechnical of Fort Collins and built by Schmidt Earth Builders of Windsor.

"It's a big drink of water," said Jeff Smith, president of Schmidt.

Magnuson said there are about 250 stockholders in the irrigation company. Mike Hungenberg of Greeley is president of the six-member board of directors which includes Harold Buxman of Greeley, Richard Foose of Eaton, Kenton Brunner of Windsor, Jim Koehler of Greeley and Jack Larson of Gill.

"They approved this project in what was the worst water year in history and when (farm) economics were not very good. That's a indication of their foresighteness and vision," he said.

Foose said this past winter's good snow and rain in the spring was the only reason the company was able to start filling its new reservoir.

"What we need now is another good winter," he said.