BEET FIELDS TO BALL FIELDS - ADAPTATION OF THE COLORADO-BIG THOMPSON PROJECT TO CHANGING WATER NEEDS

摘要

The Colorado-Big Thompson Project (C-BT) delivers approximately 213,000 acre-feet of waterrnannually to Northern Colorado. Water is diverted from the Colorado River Basin to the SouthrnPlatte Basin through a system of 12 reservoirs with a total storage capacity of nearly 1 millionrnacre-feet, 35 miles of tunnels, 95 miles of canals, three pumping plants and six hydroelectricrnpower plants with an installed capacity of 216 megawatts. The Northern Colorado WaterrnConservancy District (District) was created in 1937 to contract with the U.S. Bureau ofrnReclamation (Reclamation) for construction and repayment of project facilities and jointlyrnoperates and maintains C-BT with Reclamation. The District is responsible for allocation,rnadministration and delivery of C-BT water to allottees.rnC-BT initially provided supplemental water to approximately 720,000 irrigated acres withinrnDistrict boundaries. However, as the population within the District has grown from 200,000 inrn1950 to 750,000 today, C-BT has transitioned to a system that provides both agricultural andrnmunicipal supplemental water needs. The allocation system employed by the District torndistribute the water provides a reliable, consistent and flexible method to transfer water betweenrnwater users within the District. Short-term rentals and long-term purchases and transfers ofrnwater allotment contracts are performed as free-market transactions, so long as the transferrnoccurs within District boundaries, meets District requirements and is approved by the District'srnBoard of Directors. In addition, the District has implemented numerous rules and programs thatrnprovide additional flexibility and maximize benefits to all District constituents, including thernAnnual Carryover Program, the Carryover Capacity Transferability Program, and the RegionalrnPool Program. These programs allow allottees to manage their annual allocations for year-roundrnwater demands while promoting temporary leases of municipal water to agricultural users. Thernadministration of these programs, along with the transitional nature of C-BT operations andrndeliveries from agricultural to municipal uses, presents unique challenges to Reclamation and thernDistrict as they attempt to maximize benefits of the resource.