Northern Water says that if Northern Integrated Supply Project (NISP) had been operational, the Poudre River’s spring runoff and the damage it created would have been reduced. Not only that, but both the proposed Glade and Galeton reservoirs would have stored huge volumes of water this year, protecting the region against future drought. “This is one of the better water years we’ve had recently,” said Carl Brouwer, NISP project manager. “This is a great year to illustrate the value of Glade Reservoir in storing the excess snowmelt runoff.”
With the Poudre River peaking at almost 6,000 cubic feet per second and remaining above 4,000 cubic feed per second (CFS) for two weeks, NISP could have diverted 1,000 cfs. “This would not have stopped all flooding downstream in the Greeley area, but it certainly would have reduced the magnitude,” Brouwer added.
The recent year’s variation in water has also provoked more discussion about new storage in the state, including NISP. The period from 2009 to 2011 was a wet period and produced more than one million acre feet of water over and above what is legally required to Nebraska. Glade and Galeton would have been full entering 2012, which proved to be one of the driest years on record.
The NISP supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement is scheduled for completion later this year. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will then release the document
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