www.ncwcd.org
Windy Gap Firming Project
Facts: The Windy Gap Firming Project is an effort by 14 entities to
improve the reliability of, or "to firm", the water supplies
developed by the original Windy Gap project.
• In wetter years, the Colorado-Big Thompson system is
What is Windy Gap Firming? sometimes full and does not have excess capacity to carry or
store Windy Gap water. During the period 1995-2000, there
T
he original Windy Gap project was built in 1985 by the was water available to Windy Gap, but the project did not
Municipal Subdistrict of the Northern Colorado Water divert because Lake Granby was full of C-BT water;
Conservancy District on behalf of five northern
Colorado cities and Platte River Power Authority. The project • In other years when Windy Gap water is stored in Lake
diverts water from below the confluence of the Colorado and Granby and the reservoir is full, Windy Gap Project water
Fraser Rivers and delivers it through Colorado-Big Thompson must be released from the reservoir to make room for
Project facilities to Windy Gap owners in northeastern Colorado-Big Thompson Project water as it flows into the
Colorado. reservoir during the runoff season. In both 1995 and 1996,
The project was originally anticipated to provide an annual Windy Gap water was released from Granby for these reasons.
average of 48,000 acre-feet of water to the Windy Gap owners.
However, the expected yield has not been realized due to sev- The Windy Gap Firming Project is an effort by 14 entities to
eral factors: improve the reliability of, or "to firm", the water supplies
developed by the original Windy Gap project. This will allow
• Upstream and downstream senior water rights on the the Participants to satisfy water demands during both wet and
Colorado River must be satisfied before the Windy Gap dry years.
Project can divert water. This limits the amount of water
Windy Gap can divert during drier years in the upper The Firming Project participants are Broomfield, Erie, Greeley, Longmont,
Colorado River Basin. For example, in 2002, Windy Gap Louisville, Loveland, Superior, Evans, Little Thompson Water District,
was unable to divert; Lafayette, Fort Lupton, Central Weld County Water District, Platte River
Power Authority and Middle Park Water Conservancy District.
Initial Steps: The Alternative Plan Formulation Report
In 2003, the Municipal Subdistrict reservoirs and non-structural options best potential of successfully achieving
completed the Windy Gap Firming such as coordinated operation with the the project's goals. The study team eval-
Project Alternative Plan Formulation C-BT Project. uated the 18 plans based upon environ-
Report. The study's purpose was to The study team initially identified 170 mental impacts, economics, permit
assess the range of reasonable alterna- elements that could, alone or in combi- requirements, and operational consider-
tives for firming the Windy Gap water nation, firm the Windy Gap supply. ations. From that analysis, seven plans
supply. Alternative plans included struc- They then used a two-phase screening were selected for more detailed study
tural options such as new or enlarged process to identify 18 plans that had the and modeling.
The 7 Alternative Plans
Chimney Hollow (110,000 af)
Chimney Hollow (84,000 af)
& Jasper North (36,500 af)
Chimney Hollow (110,000 af)
& Rawhide North (13,000 af)
Chimney Hollow (44,500 af)
& Jasper North (36,000 af)
Cactus Hill (110,000 af)
Little Thompson (110,000 af)
Jasper North (79,000 af)
& Jasper North (36,000 af)
Windy Gap Firming Project
www.ncwcd.org
Colorado River water
flowing over the
Windy Gap spillway
Next steps: the NEPA process
ach of the seven alternative plans would require a physical than 250 people and five agencies attended the meetings and
E connection of Windy Gap Firming Project facilities to C- submitted 161 written comments on over 900 separate issues.
BT Project facilities. This During the next year,
connection requires per- Reclamation and the
The EIS Process
mission from the United Municipal Subdistrict
States Bureau of Begin EIS Hold Agency & Solicit Public & will refine the project
Reclamation and compli- Process Public Scoping Agency Concerns purpose and need,
ance with the National June 2003 Fall 2003 assess the environ-
Environmental Policy Act mental impacts of the
(NEPA) by conducting an alternatives, and docu-
Identify Alternatives Conduct Prepare Draft EIS Issue Draft EIS
environmental review of Environmental ment the process in
to be Studied Studies Based on Studies for Review
the alternatives that cul- the EIS report. The
minates in the creation of Early 2005 Summer 2004 Winter 2004 Spring 2005 draft EIS is scheduled
to Summer 2005 to Spring 2005
an Environmental Impact to be distributed in
Statement (EIS) report. Periodic Updates Summer 2005. At that
The Municipal Subdistrict to the Public time, Reclamation will
and Reclamation began hold a second set of
the NEPA process in Public Comment meetings to take pub-
Spring 2003. Period lic comment on the
One of the first steps in document. The figure
NEPA's environmental Prepare Final EIS at left shows the steps
Publish Final Public Comment Prepare Record
review process is to deter- in Response to EIS involved in writing the
Period of Decision
Public Comments
mine the scope of the Windy Gap Firming
Summer 2005 Fall 2005 Late 2005
Environmental Impact Project EIS and the
Statement report. To associated schedule.
accomplish this, Reclamation and the Municipal Subdistrict More information on the NEPA process is available at the
held three public meetings and one agency meeting to obtain Council on Environmental Quality's website:
comments on what information the EIS should include. More http://ceq.eh.doe.gov/nepa/nepanet.htm
For more information....
Call the following NCWCD staff for questions regarding For questions specific to the NEPA process, contact the
the project: following U.S. Bureau of Reclamation staff:
Jeff Drager, Project Manager Kara Lamb, Public Involvement Specialist
(970) 622-2333 (970) 962-4326
jdrager@ncwcd.org klamb@gp.ubsr.gov
Nicole Seltzer, Public Liaison The Windy Gap Firming Project website:
(970) 622-2277
nseltzer@ncwcd.org www.ncwcd.org