Many communities in the West are growing, and in some places that鈥檚 putting pressure on already scarce water supplies.
That鈥檚 the case in northern Colorado, where a proposed set of reservoirs promises to allow small suburbs to keep getting bigger. The project, called the Northern Integrated Supply Project (NISP), has stirred up a familiar debate over how the West grows, and whether water should be a limiting factor.
NISP -- with its two new reservoirs, and network of pipelines across a broad sweep of Northern Colorado -- is close to being fully permitted, which would pave the way to begin construction of the infrastructure project to satisfy the needs of 15 fast-growing Front Range municipalities and water providers. The project promises to give those communities water to build new homes and businesses -- without buying it from farmers.
Glade Reservoir is the proposed body of water that would fill a bathtub-shaped valley north of Fort Collins that currently acts as a straight stretch of Highway 287. If the reservoir was full today, Haystack Rock, a graffiti-laden 40-ton boulder between Fort Collins and Laramie, would sit at the bottom.
Glade would be one of the Western U.S.鈥檚 biggest new reservoirs to come online in the past couple decades. With a more than $1 billion price tag, a project of this size and scale has those who live near the new reservoir and along pipeline routes concerned.
鈥淚 am not going to be as affected as some of the other residents, but I feel pretty strongly against this project,鈥� said Lori Nielsen, a resident of Bonner Peak Ranch, a mostly rural neighborhood near the proposed reservoir. Nielsen works as a wildlife biologist, and has consulted on dam projects in her career.
鈥淥ur house is situated far enough away, our property value would probably increase, ironically, with a reservoir of this nature,鈥� Nielsen said.
The project would be Nielsen鈥檚 new neighbor, and rearrange how she gets to and from Fort Collins. The highway she currently uses to drive to the city would be under more than 200 feet of water if the dam is built and the reservoir is filled. If it鈥檚 fully permitted, Nielsen says her community will be forced to host a new body of water that symbolizes the region鈥檚 growth, and the failures of local and state leaders to plan for it.
鈥淏uilding reservoirs, reservoir development is something that we used to do 50 years ago or 100 years ago. We have so many more tools that are at our disposal now, to plan for that growth that I feel like are being ignored,鈥� Nielsen said.
Northern Water, the quasi-governmental agency that moves water through tunnels, canals and reservoirs across a broad swath of Northern Colorado, is pushing for NISP鈥檚 construction on behalf of 15 other water providers, mostly small suburbs that have ambitions to grow. The communities of Dacono, Firestone, Eaton, Lafayette, Windsor and Severance are all , among others.
鈥淧eople still want to come to Colorado and shutting off the water tap is probably not the means to to slow the growth down,鈥� said Brad Wind, Northern Water鈥檚 general manager.
For decades Front Range cities have been buying up agricultural water rights to keep up with demand. It鈥檚 a practice known as 鈥渂uy and dry,鈥� and it has raised concerns among local and state lawmakers worried that irrigated agriculture will be sacrificed to make way for suburban sprawl. NISP, Wind said, is meant to curb that trend.
鈥淎s (the NISP participants) bring on the anticipated growth that they're foreseeing there is just not in our minds another go to, besides drying up agriculture within their vicinity,鈥� Wind said.
NISP is getting close to the end of a federal, state and local permitting process. Since first formally submitting for permits in 2004, the project has jumped through regulatory hurdles like a federal environmental impact statement, a water quality certification from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, and a 1041 permit from Larimer County. The 1041 permit gives local governments in Colorado some oversight authority on large infrastructure projects within their boundaries.
At a series of public hearings this summer, the county鈥檚 planning commission heard from residents worried about the project鈥檚 reliance on the Poudre River.
鈥淲hat this project has done is it has forced us in a way to give up our quality of life, to give up our lifestyle, to give up the place where we want to live, in order for Northern Water to provide water to towns that aren鈥檛 even in Larimer County,鈥� said Nancy Wallace, a member of the Larimer County planning commission.
Wallace ended up in the minority on the commission. It voted to recommend the 1041 permit to the board of county commissioners, which then approved on a 2-1 vote the permit for the project. Environmental advocacy groups quickly promised to sue over the decision.
The town of Erie, a rapidly growing community in Boulder County about a half hour from Boulder and north Denver, would be the largest recipient of NISP water.
鈥淭here is no doubt that Erie needs this water to meet its build out demands,鈥� said Paul Zilis, the town鈥檚 water attorney. 鈥淚t's not going to be tomorrow, but it's a project that they need for future residents.鈥�
Zilis was brought on in the late 1980s when the town had only one, small reservoir for its drinking supply.
鈥淚t went dry and they literally were going to have to truck in water and luckily we found a temporary solution and from there we moved forward,鈥� Zilis said.
Limited water supplies, and fierce competition for existing sources, are already contributing to Colorado鈥檚 rising home costs.
鈥淭he bottom line is that if NISP doesn't get built, every one of the 15 participants are going to be on their own competing for scarce water,鈥� he said.
That scarcity will force suburban cities and developers to scour the countryside for farmers wanting to sell their water rights, Zilis said.
NISP participants, including Erie, are required to have a conservation plan on file with the Colorado Water Conservation Board. But the project鈥檚 sponsor agency, Northern Water, doesn鈥檛 specify how much conservation a participant needs to be doing in order to be a part of the project.
Erie is doing its part to cut back how much it鈥檚 using now, Zilis said, but this is not a problem conservation alone can fix.
鈥淲e will continue to try to save water, but there I don't think it's physically possible to conserve 6,500 acre feet worth of water,鈥� he said.
After more than 15 years of permitting, countless hours of negotiation over the project鈥檚 mitigation plans, and millions of dollars spent on studies, surveys and outreach, the agency pushing for NISP, Northern Water, says it has made significant changes to the planned project in order to help the already overtaxed Poudre River. Opponents say the project will only hurt, not help.
The Cache la Poudre River, where NISP would draw water for its largest reservoir, is often referred to as a 鈥渨orking river.鈥� It provides drinking water for cities and irrigation water for farms. During the summer months it鈥檚 popular with kayakers, tubers and anglers. It鈥檚 also home to fish, birds and other wildlife.
On a recent warm summer morning, parents with bottles of sunscreen chased down their children before they waded into the river with their inflatable tubes. The newly finished Poudre River Whitewater Park near downtown Fort Collins has been a draw for families this summer looking to get out of the house and cool off.
鈥淚t just opened officially last October with a grand opening, but this is the first spring where it's really been open,鈥� said Evan Stafford with American Whitewater, a group that advocates for swiftwater recreation. (American Whitewater receives funding from the Walton Family Foundation, which also provides funding for 萝莉少女鈥檚 water coverage).
But with the ribbon cutting less than a year ago, Stafford said NISP presents an upstream threat. The project鈥檚 biggest reservoir, Glade, would be miles from the park, but it would be felt by kayakers and tubers alike. NISP would pull water out of the river at the same time whitewater paddlers flock to it.
鈥淚t's already pretty affected, but NISP would really increase that effect to almost there being no flooding or a natural kind of rise in the river due to the snow melt,鈥� Stafford said.
That鈥檚 important, not just for kayakers, but for the river鈥檚 ecological health too. High spring flows flush sediment downstream and are critical for fish and bird habitat.
Without those rushing, turbid spring flows, 鈥渋t would be hard, I think, to really call it a river at that point. It becomes a drainage ditch,鈥� Stafford said.
The project still needs one more federal approval from the Army Corps of Engineers before it鈥檚 considered to be fully permitted, and ready to head into design and construction phases.
This story is part of a project covering water in the western U.S. and the Colorado River basin, produced by 萝莉少女 and supported through a Walton Family Foundation grant. 萝莉少女 is solely responsible for its editorial content.
