FORT COLLINS, Colo.—City officials are still concerned about a proposed reservoir that would draw from the Cache la Poudre River, despite a study suggesting that impacts on drinking water would be less than once feared.
The Glade Reservoir north of town would be part of the Northern Integrated Supply Project, proposed by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District to meet growing demands for water. The project also includes plans for a reservoir near Ault.
The engineering firm Black & Veatch, or B&V, conducted a study for the district to address the city’s concerns on water quality. City Department of Natural Resources Director John Stokes told the Fort Collins Coloradoan for a story published Sunday that the study didn’t provide enough information to alleviate all of the city’s concerns.
Separately, the Army Corps of Engineers is supplementing its review of environmental impacts of the overall project following criticism by the Environmental Protection Agency and others over the initial review.
The city is worried about whether bringing water from Glade Reservoir to Horsetooth Reservoir would affect the quality of water in Horsetooth by raising the level of total organic carbon. Horsetooth, west of Fort Collins, provides water for drinking, irrigation and hydropower generation.
Glade Reservoir would draw on the Poudre River during the spring runoff, when the amount of debris in the water could be higher than what is typically found in Horsetooth.
The B&V study says much less water would be transferred from Glade to Horsetooth than the city had assumed.
Fort Collins also is concerned about how the project might affect a plume of chemical contamination from a former missile silo near the mouth of Poudre Canyon and whether the city might need to make expensive upgrades to its wastewater-treatment facilities.
The B&V study says the city’s concerns are overstated.
Kevin Gertig, water resources and treatment operations manager for the city, said the study didn’t provide enough data to answer the city’s concerns.
Northern Water spokesman Brian Werner said the agency looks forward to working through details of the water project with city staff. “We’re going to do all we can to alleviate the city’s concerns,” he said.
If the Corps grants the $426 million water project a permit, construction could start by 2013.
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Information from: Fort Collins Coloradoan,
