Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission unanimously approves Northern Water NISP plan

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission last week unanimously approved the Fish and Wildlife Mitigation and Enhancement Plan submitted by Northern Water for the Northern Integrated Supply Project on the Poudre River in northeast Colorado. This plan is designed to address the impacts to fish and wildlife due to the development and water diversion associated with NISP, according to a press release from the CPW.

The approval is one more step in the approval process for the large, two-reservoir water project that will draw water from the Poudre River all year long but especially during spring runoff months. The water would be used to help meet needs of future population growth in the Northern Colorado region and diminish the need to divert water from agriculture to cities, Northern Water has said.

The water district’s plan would improve flows through the Poudre in Fort Collins, according to submitted documents and discussion at the Parks and Wildlife Commission meeting. After two years of discussion, Northern Water presented a public draft of the plan at the June commission meeting.

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Northern Water officials met with the Fort Collins Coloradoan’s editorial board Monday to answer questions about the plan.

NISP would store the water drawn from the Poudre in Glade Reservoir, which would be built north of Fort Collins on land that now includes the U.S. Highway 287 right of way. Another reservoir, called the Galeton Reservoir, would be built near Greeley.

Opponents of the water project, including Save the Poudre, say that mitigation of environmental impacts does not go far enough.

NISP has several more steps including U.S. Clean Water Act review and the ultimate decision from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is expected in 2018.