The city councils of Loveland and Greeley approved resolutions to fund their portions of the Fifth Interim Agreement for costs associated with the Windy Gap Firming Project in 2016. Each participant’s share for 2016 is approximately $1.1 million.
“The Fifth Phase of the Project consists of the continuation of work to obtain local, state and federal permits and approvals required for the Project; detailed engineering design including preparation of plans and specifications for contractor procurement; additional land acquisition; planning and implementation of required mitigation and enhancement measures; development of contracts and other agreements that will be required to integrate the Project with the Windy Gap Project; development of alternatives for financing the Project; and related activities.”
The firming project would meet a need recognized about 25 years ago by Windy Gap participants: a dedicated reservoir to store Windy Gap water. Because of the project’s junior water rights, Windy Gap water cannot be diverted in years of low runoff. Conversely, during some wet periods storage space in Lake Granby is not available for Windy Gap water, which has a lower priority than C-BT Project water.
Chimney Hollow Reservoir would change the project’s reliable annual yield from zero acre-feet of water to about 30,000 acre-feet, improving the reliability of water deliveries to 13 participating water providers, including, the cities of Evans, Greeley, Longmont, and Loveland, as well as the Little Thompson and Central Weld County Water Districts.
IRES MLS: Come Home to Colorado 