Cities, water districts chip in to help area farmers

By Cherry Sokoloski
North Forty News

Farmers in northern Larimer County aren't counting their chickens yet, but they now have a chance of making a crop this year.

Water owners worked out a cooperative deal in early July that will ensure water for shareholders in the North Poudre Irrigation Co. at least until Sept. 1, perhaps later if Mother Nature helps out with some rain.

The crop-saving deal is a loan of water from other water entities in the area. A total of 10,500 acre-feet is promised, including 6,000 acre-feet from the Tri-Districts, 3,000 from Fort Collins and 1,500 from Greeley. Fort Collins and the Tri-Districts are major shareholders in NPIC. The borrowed water will be repaid out of next year's NPIC water supply.

Before the agreement was reached, NPIC had told shareholders that water supplies would last just through July. "We would have been in real trouble without the loan," said Eldon Ackerman, who farms northwest of Wellington. "It was a good move by the company." He noted that September water would especially help with the sugar beet harvest, both in terms of crop maturity and keeping the ground moist for digging.

NPIC's manager Steve Smith said he was enthused by the cooperation shown by other water owners in helping Larimer County farmers. "Typically the agricultural community has had a perception that the cities and water districts are taking their water," Smith said. "I think this proves that they are sensitive to agriculture and its importance in Larimer County."

Trouble for NPIC started in April. At the first of the month, the snowpack was above average and water seers were predicting a good year. NPIC declared an appropriation of 4.5 acre-feet of water per share.

Then, the snows stopped coming, the weather got hot and the snowpack diminished quickly. As a result, the runoff which irrigators depend on was poor, only 60 percent of average. At the same time, with fields along the Front Range already parched, farmers made heavier-than-usual demands on early irrigation water to get the crops out of the ground.

Under these conditions, reservoirs in the NPIC system were quickly depleted, and in June, the company notified farmers that it wouldn't be able to make the promised appropriation. This "got a lot of the ag people alarmed," Smith said, and many showed up at the July 5 board meeting to discuss the situation.

One suggestion put on the table was borrowing excess water from other entities this year, so that farmers could finish out the crops that were already planted. Things happened quickly after that, with promises of water coming from the three water districts and two municipalities within two days.

With water, however, nothing is ever easy. Smith's next challenge was to find a way to deliver the water - all of which is stored in Horsetooth Reservoir - to farmers in north Larimer County. He had to find stored water high enough on the Poudre River that it could be diverted to the NPIC farmers, then work out exchanges with other water companies for the Horsetooth water.

As of late July, Smith had found means of using about 8,000 acre-feet of the promised water, and he was "still looking" for ways to use it all.

Farmers had to make some concessions to save this year's crops. To make supplies stretch, NPIC went on a ditch delivery schedule of seven days on, seven off. Also, farmers agreed to reduce their acreage of planted crops next year so the borrowed water can be paid back.

The agreement, Smith noted, allows farmers a better chance at making a fair to decent crop this year, since August water is critical for all crops.

Smith commented that if Halligan Reservoir had already been enlarged, the extra storage would have helped offset some of this year's deficiencies. NPIC has asked for an additional 5,000 acre-feet of storage in the reservoir if it is expanded.