Wellington explores options in search of more water

By Cherry Sokoloski
North Forty News

Shopping for new water isn't quite as easy as looking for a new pair of shoes.

Wellington knows this well, since officials have been working for several years to find new sources of water for the fast-growing community. The goal, according to Town Administrator Larry Lorentzen, is to diversify the sources of domestic water.

Currently, Wellington has two domestic water sources. The town purchases water from North Poudre Irrigation Co., which is stored in Reservoir 3 northwest of Wellington. It also owns three wells located near Eyestone Elementary and Wellington Junior High. The NPIC water is treated in the town's main water treatment plant, while the well water is treated in a separate facility.

Treating surface water--such as that from Reservoir 3--is an entirely different process than treating well water, Lorentzen explained; hence the need for two treatment plants.

The wells supply 400 acre-feet of water per year to Wellington. The contract with NPIC allows for a maximum of 2,000 acre-feet. In 2006, the town used 629 acre-feet of NPIC water.

On the surface, it would appear that there's plenty of NPIC water left to use, but it's not that simple. The main factor is the cost. The first 275 acre-feet are called the base amount, and it's dirt-cheap: it costs the town just 13 cents per 1,000 gallons.

The next 225 acre-feet, however, jump to $1.98 per 1,000 gallons. And, for everything above 500 acre-feet, the town must pay $9,000 per year just to reserve it, plus $1.98 per 1,000 gallons. With its growing population, Wellington has surpassed the 500 acre-feet mark every year since 2004.

With this pricing structure, the bottom line in 2006 was this: For the first 275 acre-feet of NPIC water, Wellington paid $11,587. For the remaining 354 acre-feet, the town paid $235,904. At some point, Lorentzen said, the NPIC water would become cost-prohibitive.

"There's less expensive water out there," he commented.

Besides cost, the other issue with NPIC water is the lack of diversity. If Wellington is able to secure other sources of water, the town will not be left high and dry if one source becomes unusable for some reason, such as contamination.

Seaworth water promising

As Wellington looks for diverse sources of water, Lorentzen thinks the most promising option is water owned by Richard and Sandy Seaworth, who farm north of Wellington. The Seaworths are attempting to make a legal change in the use of irrigation wells on their property, from agricultural to domestic use. The state water court will hear the matter in January.

The Seaworths recently withdrew a request for Wellington to annex some of their property, after neighbors strongly objected to the plan. Annexation would have made it easier for them to set up a water district and sell water to Wellington. However, according to Lorentzen, it would still be possible for the Seaworths to sell water to the town through a private water company or a water district set up through the county. Even if the annexation doesn't happen, "it's not a deal-breaker" when it comes to water, Lorentzen said.

The benefits of the Seaworth water are two-fold, Lorentzen said. First, the cost would be "substantially less than any other solutions," because less new infrastructure would be required. If a deal is worked out, a new well will be drilled on the Seaworth property north of County Road 70. A new treatment plant would be built there as well, similar to the one that treats the town's current well water. The treated water could then be delivered to the town through existing pipelines, since the town's main treatment plant is close by.

As a second benefit, the Seaworth well water is less hard and has more consistent quality than the surface water from Reservoir 3, Lorentzen pointed out. By mixing the two sources of water, the overall quality of water for Wellington residents would improve.

Lorentzen also perceives an ethical obligation for Wellington to support new sources of water, such as that involved in the Seaworth project. "We have a responsibility to develop new sources of water, and to make sure that they are kept local," he said.

Wellington officials have explored several other options for diversifying water supplies, as outlined below.

• Buying more water from the Colorado-Big Thompson project: Lorentzen said there would be no way to deliver this water to Wellington. Even if NPIC were willing to deliver it, the water would have to use the same reservoir system as the current NPIC water. "We don't want to put all our eggs in one basket," Lorentzen said.
• Purchasing water from Northern Colorado Water Association: According to the association, it is not in a position to provide water to an urban area because its water lines are too small.
• Buying water from the East Larimer County Water District: According to Lorentzen, this option is "always a possibility," but it would require a substantial investment in pipelines. Also, if ELCO controlled the water going to Wellington, there would be no guarantees about rates or availability. Lorentzen said that Wellington has not held discussions with ELCO for several years.
• Participating in the Northern Integrated Supply Project, which hopes to build Glade Reservoir and divert water from the Poudre River: Lorentzen noted that the project was very expensive to get into. Also, there would be huge pipeline costs--estimated at $10 million--to get water from Glade to Wellington.
• Buying water designated as "nontributary": Wellington-area resident Harold Hagen approached the town a few years ago about buying his nontributary water, but Lorentzen said the town would require a ruling by the state water court that the water is legally available. Such a ruling could be difficult to obtain because the state has changed its methods of determining whether a water source is in fact nontributary, he said.