Water district sets 2024 quota at 70%

BERTHOUD — The allocation of water from the Colorado-Big Thompson water project will be set at 70% for the 2024 growing season.

The board of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District voted 12-1 Thursday to set the allocation, which is up from the 50% initial quota set in October.

The quota level means that 217,000 acre feet of water will be available to those who own shares in the project. There are 310,000 shares in the project, each equal to one acre foot.

The C-BT project is considered supplemental in that the primary source of water for the district served comes from native sources. To set the quota, board members consider reservoir levels and the level of the snowpack. When native supplies are high, the quota is set lower. In recent years, the level has been set at 70% or 80%. Staff of the district reviewed supply levels at its Spring Water Symposium last week.

Luke Shawcross, manager of the Water Resources Department at Northern Water, outlined water modeling showing the predicted storage levels in the project through the end of 2024 and into 2025, and he also discussed the available water supplies in regional reservoirs. Water Resources Specialist Emily Carbone and Water Scheduling Department Assistant Manager Sarah Smith also provided board members with water supply information, along with a glimpse into both short-term and mid-term weather forecasts.

The board has been setting the C-BT quota since 1957 and 70% is the most-common quota declared. It was also the quota set for the 2023 water delivery season. In 2022, the final quota was 80%. 

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