WATER UTILITY ENTERPRISE BOARD MEETING
This meeting will be conducted during the Other Business section of the regular meeting.
The purpose of this item is to authorize the Mayor to execute agreements with the Northern Integrated Supply Project Water Activity Enterprise. The City has been working since the late 1980s to enlarge Halligan Reservoir, previously owned by the North Poudre Irrigation Company (“NPIC”), to meet the City’s needs for additional water supply and storage. The City began seeking regulatory approval with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (“Corps”) in 2006 to enlarge Halligan Reservoir as part of the Halligan Water Supply Project (“Halligan Project”). Throughout, City staff continued to evaluate water storage alternatives on a variety of factors (cost, supply impacts, water quality impacts, environmental impacts) as regulatory landscape, costs, and opportunities evolved.
In light of developments over the last 18 months, including the availability of allotment units in the Northern Integrated Supply Project (“NISP”), updated project and operating costs, and significant permitting uncertainties for the Halligan Reservoir project, the City’s participation in NISP appears more certain than the enlargement of Halligan Reservoir through the Halligan Project. Participation in NISP is projected to result in lower overall rate increases, and, depending on the level of participation, may provide additional storage to help with longer-term City goals including climate adaptation, housing, and economic development.
Staff has been working with the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District (“Northern”) to understand the impacts of joining NISP and negotiate potential participation. Key to this evaluation, and the associated benefits to the City, is the ability to bring some City water rights to the project. Through this effort, agreements have been drafted that allow the City to buy into NISP with the ability to store water attributable to some of the City’s own water in Glade Reservoir.
To pursue these agreements in earnest, staff believe it is also necessary to notify the Corps of the City’s intention to join NISP and subsequently withdraw the application to the Corps for a permit under Section 404 of the Clean Water Act for the Halligan Project.
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