Wyoming-Colorado pipeline advances to public meetings

By JoAn Bjarko
North Forty News

The public will soon get its chance to comment on the idea of piping water from the Green River in western Wyoming to Colorado's thirsty Front Range.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will conduct public scoping meetings April 14 through 22 at six locations to describe the proposed Regional Watershed Supply Project, preliminary alternatives and the environmental compliance process.

"The project makes all the sense in the world," said north Fort Collins resident Aaron Million, the man behind the idea who founded the private Million Conservation Resource Group to carry it through to completion.

Million is hopeful that the Army Corps will issue a final decision by fall 2011.

The Fort Collins scoping meeting will be held April 20 at Fossil Ridge High School, 5400 Ziegler Road, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Other meetings will be held in Green River, Wyo.; Vernal, Utah; Laramie, Wyo.; Denver and Pueblo. The Corps will accept written comments for scoping until May 19.

At this stage, the Corps is preparing an environmental impact statement to analyze the direct, indirect and cumulative effects of the proposed water supply project in Wyoming and Colorado. The project proposes to provide about 250,000 acre-feet per year of new annual firm yield to meet a portion of the projected water supply needs of southeastern Wyoming and the Front Range of Colorado.

The water would be obtained from the Green River Basin as part of the unused portion of water allocated to the states of Wyoming and Colorado under the Upper Colorado River Compact. The project would be constructed, owned and operated by MCRG.

Million said he has had recent discussions with major municipalities to purchase water delivered through the pipeline. Agriculture could also benefit, he said.

In particular, Million sees the opportunity for the pipeline to deliver water to the proposed Glade Reservoir near the mouth of Poudre Canyon so that no water would be diverted from the Poudre River.

"It would be a win for the entire region," he said. "We could fill the reservoir consistently."

The Corps is currently working on a supplemental draft EIS for the Northern Integrated Supply Project, which includes Glade Reservoir. It should be available for public comment next year.

Million's project would deliver water through a large pipeline (72 to 120 inches in diameter) extending from two points of diversion in Wyoming to a storage facility at the end of the pipeline system near Pueblo.

The project would involve water withdrawal from the Green River and Flaming Gorge Reservoir using intake facilities at the diversion points. From the diversion points, water would be pumped through an approximately 560-mile-long pipeline.

Water storage is currently anticipated at Lake Hattie Reservoir, located west of Laramie; the proposed Cactus Hill Reservoir site, located northeast of Fort Collins; and the proposed T-Cross Reservoir site, located north of Pueblo. A new regulating reservoir would be located near the Green River end of the pipeline system. Water treatment facilities would be a part of the intake system and water storage reservoirs.

More information about the project is available on the Corps web site at https://www.nwo.usace.army.mil/html/od-tl/eis-info.htm