NCWCD sets quota as drought extends into sixth year

By Cherry Sokoloski
North Forty News

It's looking like another year of drought, according to the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District. The district manages water in the Colorado-Big Thompson project, which includes Lake Granby, Horsetooth Reservoir and Carter Lake.

The NCWCD board of directors set this year's quota at 70 percent on April 8, which will help area water users survive another year of lower-than-normal snowpack. Last year's quota was only 60 percent because of low supplies in the reservoirs.

The NCWCD has declared 2005 to be the sixth year of drought in northern Colorado. Spokesman Brian Werner said the drought began in 2000, but much of the public didn't see impacts until 2002, when reservoirs bottomed out. "It takes a long time to come out of the bottom," he noted.

The C-BT water is intended to be supplemental, providing extra water during dry periods. The 70 percent quota will supply 217,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water for agricultural, municipal and industrial water users in the district.

The biggest C-BT hole waiting to be filled is Lake Granby, which was 50 percent below normal in April. As a whole, C-BT storage is 90,000 acre-feet below normal, equivalent to the entire capacity of Carter Lake.

Forecasts for the area's streamflow runoff are below average, Werner noted, due to below-normal snowpack. As of April 27, the statewide snowpack stood at 90 percent of average, a good improvement over last year but not enough to erase the deficits caused by long-term drought. In the South Platte drainage, which includes the Big Thompson and Cache la Poudre river basins, the snowpack was only 78 percent of average on that date. Precipitation for the year to date was 83 percent of average..