North Weld to control excess water use by ag, commercial users

LUCERNE — The North Weld County Water District, which has maintained a moratorium on new water taps since last fall, will install flow-control devices on water meters to prevent agricultural and commercial users from using more than their allocation of water in times of drought.

The district announced the new policy in a Tuesday posting on its website addressed to “Agricultural Business Owners.”

“This enduring drought situation is affecting North Weld County Water District …  which is now considered to be in an extreme drought according to the National Drought Mitigation Center and Colorado Department of Natural Resources,” the district stated. “We do not anticipate this situation to improve in the foreseeable future.

“If the drought conditions continue to persist and/or Colorado River drought mitigation measures affect the amount of water available to NWCWD from the Colorado river, NWCWD’s ability to provide this surplus water will be diminished or eliminated altogether.”

Eric Reckentine, district manager for North Weld, said the flow-control devices will enable the district to curtail excess water use by commercial and agricultural users, including dairies, which account for about one-third of the district’s water usage.

“As of right now, we’re allowing the usage of our water supply,” Reckentine said. “The way it’s perceived right now, is, come times of drought or curtailment, if the water supply is not there, we begin diminishing or eliminating that supply to that meter.”

The North Weld County Water District serves communities such as Severance, Eaton, Ault, Nunn, Pierce, Lucerne, Gill and Galeton, and parts of Timnath, Windsor, north Greeley and east Fort Collins.

North Weld’s water-supply portfolio includes some native water rights but largely consists of units of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, a federal water-diversion project that collects, stores and delivers Colorado River water to the Front Range.

North Weld customers allocate C-BT units that they own, but are able to use water in excess of that allocation.

If a customer has provided North Weld with one allocation, or unit of C-BT, but uses three allocations, for example, that customer pays a surcharge at a penalty rate. The new devices would enable the district to cut off the excess water flow in times of drought or curtailment of supply due to low levels at Lake Mead and Lake Powell.

Reckentine said that the district anticipates installing about 50 of the flow-control devices, with about 10 already ordered and due to be installed within a couple of months.

“Anybody that is underallocated, this will apply to, not just dairies and farms, but if there’s other businesses that have a meter that’s underallocated, it applies to them,” Reckentine said.

Reckentine said the district has conducted an analysis of excess water usage, which he estimated at 1,200 to 1,500 acre feet of water annually. An acre foot is about 326,000 gallons, enough to cover one acre one foot deep. Colorado estimates that the average household uses about one-half acre-foot of water annually.

The excess water usage by agricultural and commercial users constitutes a lot of water, especially in times of extreme drought.

“Our concern is that that water won’t be there in time of drought when the yields diminish or if there’s a Colorado River Compact curtailment,” Reckentine said.

The district is encouraging agricultural and commercial users that are under-allocated to identify new water allocations and potential alternatives for supply or infrastructure.

Concerns about water supply and other factors prompted the district to impose a tap moratorium in September 2021, a move that forced Severance to impose a moratorium on new building permits and Eaton to implement an “effective moratorium.”

North Weld’s action last fall was attributed to uncertainty over the 1041 regulatory process in Fort Collins and Larimer County, which could affect the NEWT III pipeline, a 5.3-mile pipeline extending from North Timberline Road in Fort Collins east into unincorporated Larimer County.

Fort Collins exempted NEWT III from its 1041 process, and Larimer County is expected to weigh in on the pipeline in the coming weeks, potentially allowing the district to proceed with the project.

Reckentine said he is recommending that the district board partially lift the tap moratorium at its Feb. 14 meeting, but he said how many taps might be allowed has not yet been determined.

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