From The Fort Morgan Times (Dan Barker):
Fort Morgan City Council members unanimously approved an extra $45,000 for the Northern Integrated Supply Project at their regular meeting Tuesday night.
Many of the necessary reports and studies for the water project are nearly done, but that effort cost more than anticipated, said Brent Nation, water resources and utilities director for the city.
Fort Morgan had paid the project $90,000 earlier this year, which is essentially the dues for the project, but the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District asked for an adjustment to the dues to pay for the studies that have been done recently, he said.
The city of Fort Morgan has a 9 percent share of the project, which will come to about 3,600 acre feet of water the city could tap when the NISP reservoirs are completed, Nation said…
Altogether, NISP is expected to cost $500 million, Nation said, and Fort Morgan’s share would cost $40 million.
Once the supplemental draft environmental impact statement is done, which could be soon, NISP will begin thinking about starting construction, said Fort Morgan City Manager Jeff Wells…
Once the environmental impact report is published, there will be a period of public review and public meetings, Nation said.
There are those who are opposed to the project, and they will come out to say so, he said. However, this will also be an opportunity for supporters to say why they want NISP.
Nation said it is encouraging to be at this point in the project after 10 years of work.
Wells said Fort Morgan has spent about $1.2 million on the project over the past 10 years…
McAlister noted that there are a number of municipalities on the plains that have serious water supply problems, and Fort Morgan must do something or it could have similar problems.
More Northern Integrated Supply Project coverage here and here.