Category: Big Thompson Watershed

Colorado-Big Thompson Project: Reservoir status

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From email from Reclamation (Michael Odle):

– Estes Powerplant will have 250 acre-feet of water available for power generation on Friday. That is an increase of 50 acre-feet from previous days.

– The Adams Tunnel diversion od 200 cfs will continue until tomorrow night. That means that the Marys Powerplant will have water available for power generation the entire day tomorrow.
– Olympus Tunnel flow will continue set at 500 cfs tomorrow.
– The Dille Tunnel flow will be adjusted to 68 cfs tomorrow morning.
– The Big Thompson Powerplant flow will be increased to 394 cfs tomorrow morning.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here and here.

Little Thompson Water District: Excess levels of trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids

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From the Berthoud Recorder (Sandy Barnes):

April samples taken at seven locations throughout the district also showed levels of chemical compounds higher than the maximum contaminants the EPA has set for stage two monitoring of drinking water. Hibbard explained that water is being assessed on the basis of EPA standards that go into effect in 2013. “In reality, we’re not out of compliance,” he said. Stage two monitoring requires measurements in parts per billion of disinfection byproducts resulting from the use of chlorine, which include trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids, according to information on the EPA’s Web site. Mike Cook, district engineer for the Little Thompson Water District, said the stage one sample, which allows an average calculation of samples taken at various sites, is the critical one for the present time. Stage two monitoring is site specific, requiring the reporting of measurements at each location. Cook also said that water sampling results can vary by as much as 25 percent at different labs used for the analysis. Adding to the challenge of complying with EPA standards is that the state requires water disinfection with chlorine, said Hibbard. In order to address the problem, it would be necessary to work with staff at the Carter Lake filter plant where the water is treated and with Weld County, he noted.

More Coyote Gulch coverage here.

Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District studying C-BT return flows

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From the Greeley Tribune (Bill Jackson):

[Luke Shawcross, a water resources engineer with Northern] is developing the model on how that water will be tracked, and if you think that’s complicated, you’re certainly right. The model is designed to catch return flow information from irrigated areas, delivery areas and municipal areas. Once that’s done, Shawcross will develop a flow chart to accurately track the water as it moves through the system.

A return flow is any water that returns to a river or to groundwater. And while C-BT return flows is property of the residents of the eight counties, rain fall runoff to rivers and streams is property of those rivers and streams, which just adds more complications. Andy Pineda, Northern’s water resources manager and Shawcross’ boss, said it’s estimated that return flow to rivers and groundwater from the C-BT could be as much as 100,000 acre-feet. “We need to quantify who got it and how it’s used. But, more importantly, we need to protect it and make sure it stays here,” Pineda said at Northern’s recent spring water users meeting.

Reclamation scores $1 billion for infrastructure, Colorado-Big Thompson to get $14 million

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The stimulus dough from the American Recovery and Investment Act keeps flowing. Here’s a report from Kelly King writing for the Fort Collins Coloradoan. From the article:

U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced Wednesday that the Bureau of Reclamation will use $1 billion from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to repair water infrastructure across the country, including a $14 million upgrade to water-delivery pipes at the Flatiron Hydroelectric Plant west of Loveland…

The Flatiron Hydroelectric Plant is stationed at Flatiron Reservoir, one of several facilities used by the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, or C-BT, to deliver water from the Colorado River on the Western Slope for use as supplemental water on the Eastern Plains…

Dubbed one of the larger infrastructure improvements in the overall national upgrade, the $14 million will be used to recoat 50-year-old linings on the interior and exterior of water-delivery pipes called penstocks. The dual water pipeline is one mile long and drops water down more than 1,000 feet from the Pinewood Reservoir to the Flatiron Power Plant, creating the most electricity in the C-BT system, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. The C-BT Project was built from 1938 to 1957 and features equipment from 60 to 70 years old that spreads across 250 miles to store, regulate and divert water. The project also generates enough electricity to power 58,300 homes for one year, equal to 759 million kilowatt-hours of electricity, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. The C-BT project provides supplemental water to 800,000 people in Northeastern Colorado.