Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District


The Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District — more commonly referred to as Northern Water — is a water utility for eight counties in northeastern Colorado. Northern Water works with the Colorado-Big Thompson Project to transfer water from the Colorado Western Slope over the Continental Divide for agricultural, industrial, and municipal water supply in northeastern Colorado. The District's offices are in Berthoud, Colorado.

Water supply infrastructure

Northern Water manages numerous water infrastructure projects, including reservoirs, pipelines and tunnels, dams, hydroelectric plants, and feeder canals. For example, the Alva B. Adams Tunnel brings water from the Upper Colorado River basin across the mountains to the South Platte River watershed in northern Colorado. Also, Horsetooth Reservoir, west of Fort Collins is among the more well-known reservoirs Northern Water manages.

Northern Integrated Supply Project

The Northern Integrated Supply Project is a project managed by Northern Water which proposes to build two new reservoirs in Northern Colorado. The proposed Glade Reservoir will take and store water from the Cache la Poudre River, and the proposed Galeton Reservoir will pull water from the South Platte River. However, the project faces organized opposition.

Municipal Subdistrict

The Municipal Subdistrict, a subordinate organization of Northern Water, was formed on July 6, 1970. The subdistrict was set up to take advantage of some unallocated Colorado River water that could also be piped over the divide for the benefit of Northern Waters customers. The Windy Gap Project, as it came to be called, provided for the construction of a diversion dam near Granby in Grand County. Now the Windy Gap Reservoir is able to divert about 48,000 acre feet of water each year to users within Northern Water's service area.