Fort Collins – City officials say they are concerned about an error that led to the Poudre River being almost dry as it passes through historic Old Town.
“The drop in flows this week and at other times worries and concerns me. The river is very important to the city of Fort Collins and is critical to our well-being from both an economic and environmental standpoint,” City Manager Darin Atteberry said. “We will do everything we can as a city to keep an appropriate stream flow through town.”
River Commissioner George Varra said he had miscalculated and released too much water from a diversion to an irrigation company.
“It’s rare that the river will be dry in June, but it’s possible,” Varra said. “The exchange this week was perfectly legal; I just allowed a little more (water to be pulled) than I should have.”
Witnesses told the Fort Collins Coloradoan that the drawdown killed fish.
Agricultural interests have senior water rights, and, at best, only 25 percent of the water leaving Poudre Canyon ever reaches town, said Dennis Bode, the city’s water resources manager. He said although the city wants to use the river as a tourist attraction, it cannot afford to buy more water rights.
“There are times when many senior users on the river are pulling their water, and when enough of those users are upstream of College Avenue, then it can result in low flows or no flows at all in parts of the river,” Bode said.
The city is building a whitewater park on the Poudre just east of North College, one of several redevelopment projects. River flow is imperative to all of those projects, Mayor Doug Hutchinson said.
Resident Gary Wockner said letting the river dry out should be an environmental crime.
