Snowpack improves in April; local reservoirs low

By Cherry Sokoloski
North Forty News

The water situation for this year's growing season is a mix of good news and bad.

Northern Colorado mountains received good moisture in April, more than making up for a period of rapid melting in March. As a result, snowpack in the South Platte Basin, which includes the Cache la Poudre and Big Thompson rivers, rose to 111 percent of average in late April. The northern part of the state has fared better than the south, and Colorado as a whole stood at 77 percent of average late in April. Both the South Platte and the state as a whole are in better shape than they were at the same time last year.

Snow survey sites on the Poudre still registered below average on April 27, with Joe Wright Reservoir at 95 percent of average and Cameron Pass at 93 percent.

Many of the winter and spring storms have been upslopes, so they did not benefit the West Slope drainages. At the end of April, snowpack in the Colorado River Basin stood at only 82 percent of average. This is important to the Front Range because Colorado River water is transported to the Eastern Slope via the Colorado-Big Thompson project. Despite the West Slope snowpack, however, reservoir storage in the C-BT project is at a healthy level this spring.

"The C-BT is in pretty good shape," said NCWCD spokesman Brian Werner. Lake Granby, the biggest reservoir in the C-BT system, was a little above average for this time of year on April 1.

The news is not so good at the smaller, local reservoirs. Storage in the North Poudre Irrigation Co. system, which serves farmers in the Wellington area, is described as "poor" by manager Steve Smith. Consequently, this year's appropriation to shareholders is low. The scant water supply has prompted farmers to look for rental water, resulting in long lines last month when Fort Collins began renting out its surplus water. (See related story on this page.)

Local reservoirs on the Cache la Poudre were at 40 percent of average and those on the Big and Little Thompson stood at 52 percent on April 1, according to Werner.

Northern ups quota

One piece of good news in April came from the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, which manages reservoirs in the C-BT project. Northern decided to raise its quota in April to 80 percent, the same as last year's and up from the initial quota of 60 percent set last November. The decision means that owners of C-BT units will receive eight-tenths of an acre-foot for every unit owned.

"This is a year the farmers could really use this," said Werner. "They're trying to make some money again, and this will help the agricultural economy."

Last summer's record-hot temperatures and dry conditions were disastrous for farmers.

During last year's dry spell, NPIC drained its reservoirs to meet its appropriation of 4.5 acre-feet per share, set early in the year when water forecasters were optimistic about the season. NPIC also had to borrow 7,500 acre-feet of water last year. As a result of those two factors, NPIC is starting this season in a deficit situation. Smith said the reservoirs are only at 60 to 70 percent of what he would like to see this time of year.

On April 4, the NPIC board of directors set this year's appropriation at 2.5 acre-feet, less than the 2.8 acre-feet delivered in the drought year of 2004. The average appropriation in recent years has been 4 acre-feet, according to Smith. "Farmers will have to adjust their plans for planting," he noted, because of the low appropriation.

However, the board will revisit the issue at its May 9 meeting in light of the increased NCWCD quota for the year, since NPIC owns shares of C-BT water.

Smith said soil moisture this spring is "going in the right direction," not great but better than last year. "It took us quite a few years to drain that soil profile, so we can't expect to replenish it in one year," he said.

Rains spotty

April rains were spotty as usual, according to assistant state climatologist Nolan Doesken. The rains during the last week of the month benefited areas south of Fort Collins more than the city and areas north. At the campus weather station, moisture for the year totaled 3.36 inches at the end of April, compared with the average of 4.31 inches. Last year's total at the end of April was only 2.35 inches. Even though this April seemed pretty wet compared with last year, the total moisture was just 1.01 inches at the campus station, compared with an average of 2.09 inches for the month. Last year in April, the station recorded only 0.27 inch.

Spring runoff forecasts improved in April. Forecasters at NCWCD now predict spring runoff to be 89 percent of average on the Poudre and 96 percent of average on the Big Thompson. Last year's runoff predictions in April were optimistic, too, but they didn't materialize because of a hot, dry spring.