Time for region to stand behind water projects

Once upon a time, Northern Colorado consumed water at a rate of 300 gallons per person per day. Thanks to a number of factors, including conservation-minded businesses and residents, that consumption rate is less than 200 gallons. In some area communities, it’s as low as 160 gallons.
We underline that fact to point out the importance of two proposed water-storage projects now on the drawing board in Larimer County.
Currently, the service area for the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District consumes about 850,000 acre of water each year. If Northern Colorado’s population grows at a rate of 1.5 percent a year – a modest projection based on the track record of the past quarter century – we’ll need another 300,000 acre feet of water per year by 2070.
Make that even sooner if the growth rate averages 2 percent, which is more likely.
Where’s that water going to come from?
Some could come from conservation, but not much. As officials for the Water Conservancy District say, by tightening from 300 gallons to 200 gallons, “We’ve taken all the easy stuff.”
We could allow the irrigated farm fields to go brown for the sake of urban growth – a process that’s already started but that nobody wants to see continue.
The answer is more storage. Which leads to the two aforementioned proposals.
One is the$250 million Chimney Hollow Reservoir near Loveland, which would store up to 110,000 acre-feet. The second is the $350 million Northern Integrated Supply Project, which includes two reservoirs – the 170,000-acre-foot Glade Reservoir near Loveland and the 30,000-acre-foot South Platte Water Conservation Project near Galeton.
(The three combined reservoirs would yield about 65,000 acre-feet for annual use. No, it’s not 300,000, but it’s a start.)
Even in the best-case scenario, there are years of planning and construction ahead for both storage projects. The earliest we can expect to see either of these projects operational is 2012.
Northern Colorado needs to stand behind both projects as each proceeds through the political process.
We hope some of the forces that have moved to block water projects in the past will see that great care has been taken to pick the locations for these reservoirs.
The demand for water is even greater still.
With these projects, Northern Colorado can keep its farms green and keep its quality of life from drying up. In the meantime, there’s only so much we can squeeze out of putting bricks in the toilet.

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