Report: Water project would prevent dry up of ag land

An aerial view of the proposed Glade Reservoir is shown northwest of Fort Collins.

For the Tribune

A major water storage project in northern Colorado would prevent the dry-up of several thousand acres of agricultural land in the region, according to a report released Wednesday.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued the draft environmental impact statement in regard to the Northern Integrated Supply Project, which is designed to give municipal and domestic water users a new supply of 40,000 acre-feet of water per year, enough to annually supply 80,000 families with a year's supply of water.

The preferred alternative in the draft includes two off-channel reservoirs -- Glade Reservoir, northwest of Fort Collins, and Galeton Reservoir, east of Ault. The project is designed to provide 40,000 acre-feet of reliable firm yield annually to 15 Front Range water providers, which are funding the $426 million project.

Eric Wilkinson, general manager of Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, said Wednesday in a press release from the district that it is "very important that everyone understands the consequences if this project is not built."

"We can't operate under the false assumption that if we don't build NISP, the region will not change. If NISP isn't built, a lot more farmland will be dried up, which has significant environmental and economic impacts. And if we do not build NISP, that certainly does not mean someone else won't take the Poudre River water," Wilkinson said in the release.

"I certainly hope people will look objectively at this document and especially the economic and environmental impacts. They may be surprised at those details," Wilkinson added.

One of the 15 participants in the project is the Central Weld County Water District, which supplies water to 11 communities from Dacono in southwest Weld to Kersey in east central Weld County. Jim Miller of La Salle is president of the board of that district, which is one of the larger participants in NISP. The district would get 3,500 acre-feet of water per year from the project. An acre foot of water is enough to supply two families with a year's supply of water.

"We've got to do everything we can to build more (water) storage," Miller said. "If we had built the projects Hank Brown wanted to build back in the 1980s, we wouldn't be facing near the problems we're facing now." Brown, who served in the U.S. House and Senate, was a proponent of Two Forks Reservoir on the South Platte southwest of Denver as well as other water storage projects being proposed at the time.

The project won't work without the cooperation of two major irrigation companies in the region, said Brian Werner, spokesman for Northern Water. Those include the Larimer & Weld Reservoir & Irrigation Co. and the Cache la Poudre Irrigation & Reservoir Co. They use Poudre River water to irrigate several thousand acres of cropland in Larimer and Weld counties, but under NISP, they would give up that water in exchange of South Platte River water that would be stored in the new Galeton Reservoir east of Ault.

Barry Anderson of Eaton, president of Larimer and Weld Reservoir & Irrigation Co., said the project is a benefit to agriculture in the region.

"If we have to dry up ag in this area, it wouldn't be good for anybody. We need this project. There's a lot more good than there is harm with it."

TO SEE THE DRAFT

The draft environmental impact statement for the Northern Integrated Supply Project is available for viewing at www.usace.army.mil/html/od-t/pn/tlpublicnotices.html.

PUBLIC HEARING
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will host a public hearing on the Northern Integrated Supply Project at 7 p.m. June 19 at the University of Northern Colorado University Center, 2045 10th Ave., Greeley. A similar meeting will be conducted at 6 p.m. June 17 at the Fort Collins Senior Center, 1200 Raintree Drive, Fort Collins.

COPIES OF THE REPORT
Copies of the environmental impact statement by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is available for viewing by the public at the University of Northern Colorado's Michener Library, the Greeley city manager's office, 1000 10th St., Windsor Recreation Center, 250 11th St., Windsor, and at locations in Fort Collins, Berthoud and Littleton.

PUBLIC INPUT
The public has 90 days to comment and provide input on the draft, which studies the purpose and need for the project, possible alternatives and what impacts the alternatives would have on the environment, according to officials with the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District in Berthoud.

Two water rights would be used to fill the reservoirs -- one on the Poudre River to fill Glade and one on the South Platte to fill Galeton.

There would be no new structures on the Poudre River as a result of the project. Glade Reservoir is an off-stream reservoir, which means it is not a dam on the Poudre River.

There is also a "no action" option outlining what the participants would do without NISP in the draft.

If NISP is not built, an additional 62-100 square miles of agricultural lands will be dried up as those water suppliers accelerate the acquisition of farmers' water. The water supplies NISP participants will have to acquire if NISP is not built will cost more than twice as much as building the new water storage project.

Carl Brouwer, project manager for the project, said in the release from Northern Water, that the water provided by NISP is badly needed.

"All of the participants in this project are facing imminent water shortages in the coming years. Northern Colorado is growing, and as the draft environmental impact statement says, the growth is going to happen with or without NISP. We have a choice to plan responsibly for that growth with NISP," he said.

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Report: Water project would prevent dry up of ag land

Bill Jackson

<a href='http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20080501/NEWS/71125479'>Report on Glade Reservoir provokes two divergent views on project's impact.</a>

<a href='http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/20080501/NEWS/965800538'>Timeline of the Northern Integrated Supply Project</a>

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