Water Portfolio

Town of Firestone's Water Portfolio Goal:

Operate in a priority system, reduce reliance on the Colorado River, and develop an alternate source to C-BT.

Sources

C-BT and Windy Gap

  • Currently, the main water supply for the Town of Firestone
  • Delivered to the Carter Lake Filter Plant for treatment by Central Weld County Water District
  • Each unit receives a variable yield, based on the quota as declared by the Board of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District ("Northern") each year

 The Town will continue to accept C-BT units through dedication by current and future developments.  Additional Windy Gap units will be pursued when presented or made available for purchase.

 NISP

  • Since the mid-2000's the Town has been a participant in NISP and is committed to 1,300 acre-feet

This project is designed to deliver about 40,000 acre-feet of Cache la Poudre River and South Platte River water annually to the participants. Firestone has subscribed to 1,300 acre-feet of this supply.  NISP is in the final stages of a 15-year environmental permitting process. Current projections are for constructing the diversion structures, dams, reservoirs, and pipelines to be completed by 2028.  The current cost estimate for the NISP project is $1.2 billion, or $30,000 per acre-foot. The 1,300 acre-feet that the Town is committed to purchasing represents $39 million that will be spent between now and 2030.

Native St. Vrain Creek Water

  • New Consolidated Lower Boulder Reservoir and Ditch Company
  • Rural Ditch Company
  • Godding Ditch Company
  • Last Chance Ditch Company
  • New Coal Ridge Ditch Company

The Town has recently acquired shares in senior irrigation ditches to support its non-potable irrigation system and augmentation needs. These include shares in the Lower Boulder Ditch, the Rural Ditch, and the Godding Ditch.  The Town has identified the five ditch companies listed above as being the best sources to diversify its water portfolio. 

Change of Water Rights and Augmentation Plan

  • The Town filed Case No. 19CW3236, a change of water rights and plan for augmentation in December 2019
  • A change of type of use and location of use of water rights based on shares of New Consolidated Lower Boulder Reservoir and Ditch Company (LBDC) and the Rural Ditch Company
  • A change of storage right for the Firestone Reservoir No. 1.
  • A claim for junior water rights for diversion from Boulder Creek and St. Vrain Creek through existing ditches, for storage in the Firestone Reservoir No. 1, which is constructed but not fully operational yet and future Firestone Reservoir No. 2; and diversion from Boulder Creek for storage in Central Park Reservoir, which is a potential site; and diversion from St. Vrain Creek for all municipal uses, including storage
  • A plan for augmenting or replacing out-of-priority pumping from the FAST (Firestone Alleuvial Supply and Treatment) Well and two other planned wellfields; and wells designed to provide irrigation water
  • An exchange on St. Vrain Creek, from the St. Vrain Sanitation District outfall upstream to the FAST Well and St. Vrain Creek diversion
  • A claim to recharge the alluvial aquifer in the vicinity of the FAST Well

Under the terms of the change case and augmentation plan, the Firestone Reservoir No. 1 will make releases to St. Vrain Creek to replace historical return flows from native water rights that have been changed to municipal uses. It will also be used to deliver water to St. Vrain Creek to augment out-of-priority pumping from the irrigation wells and the alluvial wells that will feed and make direct deliveries to the St.Vrain Water Authority Treatment Plant.