Reservoir levels up from 2006

Thanks to some help from Mother Nature, the reservoirs owned by North Poudre Irrigation Co. are heading into winter at better levels than last year.

Storage is about 5,000 acre-feet over last year's level at the end of the season, according to NPIC manager Steve Smith.

"The wet period in August bought us 10 to 14 days when we didn't have to deliver much water," Smith said.

That had the effect of lengthening the irrigation season and also allowed the company to keep more water in the reservoirs.

Another helpful factor this year was the good allocation of Colorado-Big Thompson water. The Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, which runs the C-BT project, set the allocation at 80 percent last spring.

The healthy reservoir level will provide a good head start to next year's irrigation season, Smith noted.

"Hopefully we'll be able to have as high an appropriation as this year," he said, which was four acre-feet per share.