C-BT water quota boosted thanks to high snowpack

BERTHOUD — Thanks largely to increased mountain snowpack during March, the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District’s board of directors on Thursday increased the Colorado-Big Thompson Project quota allocation to 70 percent.

With snowpacks that feed the C-BT Project system being above average and storage reservoirs in good shape, the board chose to make available an additional 20 percent as a supplemental quota.

The approval increased available C-BT Project water supplies by 20 percentage points, or 62,000 acre-feet, from the initial 50 percent quota made available in November.

The board considered input from farmers and municipal water providers. The C-BT Project supplements other sources of water for 33 cities and towns, 120 agricultural irrigation companies, various industries and other water users in within Northern Water’s 1.6 million-acre service area, which includes Boulder, Broomfield, Larimer, Weld and four other Colorado counties.

Directors considered streamflow forecasts and snowpack in the South Platte and Upper Colorado watersheds that contribute to C-BT Project inflow. The snowpack in these watersheds has increased during the past month, and March precipitation throughout Northern Water’s boundaries was 132 percent of average.

“The board set an average quota of 70 percent based on this being as close to an average year as you can get,” said Andy Pineda, Water Resources Department manager. “Snowpacks in the Upper Colorado and South Platte basins are in better shape today than a year ago.”

Directors based their decision on the need for supplemental water for the coming year while balancing project operations and maintaining water in storage for future dry years.

The Colorado-Big Thompson federal water-diversion project, operated by Northern Water, is designed to collect mountain water from the headwaters of the Colorado River on the Western Slope and divert It through the Alva B. Adams Tunnel under the Continental Divide for use along the Front Range.

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