Work on NISP water project continues despite lawsuit

LOVELAND — One project nears completion, and another has yet to get out of the starting gate. When it comes to water-project development, the time frame is measured in decades, not years.

The Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District at its annual Spring Water Symposium Tuesday in Loveland reviewed the progress of the Northern Integrated Supply Project and the construction of the Chimney Hollow Reservoir, which is part of the Windy Gap Firming Project.

NISP, which received its final major permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2023, has been delayed by a lawsuit that was filed by Save the Poudre in January 2024. But, as Brad Wind, general manager of Northern Water said, the lawsuit may actually give the project “breathing room” to complete engineering and design work as well as completing environmental commitments for the $2.25 billion project. 

Lisa Thompson, a water attorney with Trout Raley, said that the lawsuit filed in January is an administrative action in that it challenges the process that the Corps of Engineers used in giving its final determination. It doesn’t directly challenge the project itself.

The lawsuit alleges that the Corps provided a flawed analysis and failed to consider the least environmentally practical alternative.

Regardless, the lawsuit will add three or four years to the project, meaning that the Glade Reservoir likely will not begin to fill until the latter part of this decade, with first water delivery anticipated to be 2031 or 2032.

Thompson said the judge assigned to the case is the same judge who handled lawsuits directed at the Windy Gap Firming Project, and the claims are similar.

The Corps of Engineers is required to file its response to the lawsuit next week, she said.

In the meantime, Northern Water continues with the project design and with environmental mitigation.

Carl Brouwer, project management department manager for Northern, said that design of Glade Reservoir, which will be north of Fort Collins, and design of a relocated U.S. Highway 287, “are roughly at 90%.”

Pipelines also are under design, and Northern is working with a wetlands mitigation project in collaboration with Windsor near Eastman Park. 

“Next year, we’ll start some construction of pipelines …,” he said, because having them installed prior to residential and commercial development is important. 

He also said that the delay caused by the lawsuit may enable the project to secure lower-cost financing as interest rates come down.

Esther Vincent, director of environmental services for Northern Water, said that much of the environmental mitigation needs to occur before the project begins to divert water. 

Meanwhile, the Chimney Hollow reservoir project west of Carter Lake in Larimer County is well on the way for completion on time. It is scheduled to be done in 2025 when filling it will begin.

Joe Donnelly, project manager for Chimney Hollow, said the dam, now at 175 feet, has reached the halfway point. It will reach its completed height by December of this year, he said.

Contractors on the project will have 500 people on site six days a week throughout the rest of this year, Donnelly said.

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