Longmont continues to feel confident in its water supply even as uncertainty regarding the Colorado River Basin grows.
Northern Water set the initial quota for the Colorado-Big Thompson Project at 40% this month. In recent years the initial quota had been set at 50%, but the Northern Water Board of Directors cited the uncertainty over the Colorado River Basin’s hydrology and Northern Water’s commitment to system resiliency.
“This is what we need to do to protect the system for the long term,” Board President Mike Applegate said in a release.
The Colorado-Big Thompson Project, or C-BT, diverts water from the headwaters of the Colorado River to the Eastern Slope. The seven states in the Colorado River Basin are currently being asked by the federal government to conserve more water as the river dries up due to a mixture of overuse and climate change.
Northern Water quotas are expressed as a percentage of 310,000 acre-feet, the amount of water the C-BT Project was initially envisioned to deliver each year. A 40% initial quota means that 0.4 acre-feet of water will be available at the beginning of the water year, Nov. 1, for each of the 310,000 C-BT Project units.
Longmont receives a little over 12,000 units from the project, one of multiple sources of water for the city. Ken Huson, water resources manager for Longmont, said the city was not too worried about this year’s quota.
“This quota will be more than adequate for Longmont’s winter water demands,” he said.
Northern Water operates a carryover water allocation system that allows allottees to carry over unused water at the end of the water year, which is Oct. 31. Allottees can save up to the equivalent of a 20% quota, Huson explained.
“Longmont carefully manages its water supply to endeavor to carry over that amount into the next water season,” he said. “Our projections are that we will have the full 20% carryover this year, making in effect a 60% quota available on Nov. 1.”
The Northern Water Board will assess conditions in April, considering factors like local water storage levels, soil moisture and snowpack to adjust the quote for the 2023 peak water use season. In the last water year, the quota for the agricultural season was initially set at 70%.
Water from the C-BT Projects supplements 33 cities and towns including Longmont, 120 agricultural irrigation companies and other water uses within Northern Water’s 1.6 million-acre service area. More than one million residents live within Northern Water’s boundaries.
