Central Colorado Water Conservancy District increases water quota

The signing of a three-year water lease with the city of Thornton will allow irrigation wells in the South Platte River basin to pump more water this year.

The deal means Central Colorado Water Conservancy District has been able to increase the quota that 1,000 irrigation wells will be able to deliver to farmers this summer.

The quota for wells in the district's groundwater management subdistrict has been increased to 35 percent, up from 18 percent after the district's board agreed to rent 5,000 acre-feet of water annually from the city of Thornton. The water comes from the Water Supply and Storage Co. of Fort Collins and is delivered through the Poudre River and ultimately to the South Platte River east of Greeley.

Thornton owns about 50 percent of Water Supply and Storage, which supplies irrigation water to Larimer and Weld counties. The north Denver suburb bought that water along with several farms in Larimer and northern Weld counties about 20 years ago.

Frank Eckhardt, who farms south of La Salle, said every little bit helps.

"That's almost 50 percent more than we were going to pump, so it will help a lot. We'll be able to do a little more pumping than we thought," Eckhardt said.

The groundwater management subdistrict of Central was formed in 1973 with its principle mission to keep 1,000 irrigation wells in operation from Brighton east toward Wiggins along the South Platte River.

Those wells, without the addition of surface water, could irrigate about 39,000 acres at a 100 percent quota. Using surface water only, those farmers could irrigate about 18,000 acres, or about a third of the total land within the subdistrict, according to Central officials. The 35 percent quote means more acres will be planted and irrigated this spring and summer.

A significant part of the lease agreement is that Central will be able to include that water in future projections, said Randy Ray, Central's operations manager. Because of that, the district was able to increase its quota for the wells.

Ray said that while there are no immediate signs that the 35 percent increase might further be increased further, there may be other water supplies and extended wet periods going into the spring months that could change that.

"Time and time again, it is very evident that water supplies for northeastern Colorado are ever so dependent upon spring precipitation," Ray said.