Fort Collins may dive back into NISP

FORT COLLINS — A recommendation by city staffers to again pursue participation in the Northern Integrated Supply Project through a one-year interim agreement won initial approval Tuesday by the Fort Council City Council.

Participation in that water storage project would replace the city’s approach to expand Halligan Reservoir. The council is scheduled to consider and vote on the recommendation again Nov. 3.

NISP, first envisioned in 2003 at a projected to of $350 million, has seen its price tag escalate to $2.7 billion. NISP includes two new reservoirs: Glade Reservoir northwest of Fort Collins that will require the relocation of U.S. Highway 287, and Galeton Reservoir northeast of Greeley. It also includes pipelines and pumping stations to move water from the Poudre River into the reservoirs, and then back out to end users in its 15 partner entities. As costs escalated, however, some of those partners began to pull out, and the largest stakeholder, the Fort Collins-Loveland Water District, sought to sell its 20% stake in NISP in August 2025.

The city has been working on federal permitting for the Halligan Water Supply Project since 2006. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has not yet made a permit decision and recently indicated it would likely be denied. This obstacle and other challenges, including financial and legal risks, led the city to investigate options again to ensure Fort Collins Utilities customers have sustainable and affordable water into the future.

After an analysis, staff members determined that NISP is now a better water-storage option for Utilities, providing permit certainty and significant cost savings based on current estimates. Transitioning to NISP is projected to save Fort Collins Utilities water customers money through lower rate increases. Current rate projections show future increases would not be as high as they would be if the city received the federal permit and continued with the Halligan project.

The city’s estimated savings are based on the ability to store its own senior water rights in NISP’s Glade Reservoir northwest of Fort Collins. The city is targeting 5.8% participation in NISP’s Glade component, which would provide up to 9,860 acre-feet of storage.

Fort Collins transitioned its municipal water management into an integrated “One Water”  framework to break down traditional departmental divisions. The framework aligns planning, engineering, operations and land-use development so that different arms of the utility system collaborate rather than compete for funding or work in isolation.

“While this is a big shift for our community, the water utility and the city, it’s critical to secure sustainable, nearby water storage for our existing water rights while maintaining affordability as best we can,” One Water Executive Director Nicole Poncelet-Johnson said in a prepared statement. “We are proud of the work we’ve done toward the Halligan project, the environmental mitigation we’ve completed along the North Fork of the Poudre River, and thankful for the community support thus far. However, transitioning to NISP provides more certainty and affordability for our water customers.”

Securing storage is a strategy that ensures the city’s ability to meet the needs of the community, in a hotter, drier future for generations to come, staffers said.

In addition to water storage, according to a city-issued news release, “the city’s water conservation program has helped significantly reduce the amount of storage needed. Despite efforts and investments in conservation, it does not provide the scale of resilience from more storage. The city needs both storage and conservation to stretch existing supplies and to ensure Utilities can serve the community through drought.”

If the council formally approves the resolutions and ordinance on second reading in November, it would enable city staffers to sign interim agreements with the Berthoud-based Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, known as Northern Water, the organizer of NISP. It would also move to withdraw the Halligan project’s federal permit application with the Corps. If future Northern Water contractual agreements are accepted by both parties, the city would sign a final contract to officially become a NISP participant in late 2027.

The city and Northern Water have a long partnership for water delivery through the Colorado-Big Thompson Project and Horsetooth Reservoir west of Fort Collins.

Community conversations and outreach opportunities will be posted on the city’s website as they are scheduled.

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