By Will Cornelius
The Surveyor

Last Friday, the Board of Directors for Northern Water voted to increase the Colorado-Big Thompson (C-BT) 2024 quota to 70%. In a 12-to-1 vote, directors chose to increase the quota from 50%, initially set last November. The November quota is always increased in April, but the question every year is by how much.

Earlier this month at the Northern Water Spring Symposium, scientists and forecasters said that snowpack levels were above average at this point in the year.

Jeff Deems, a research scientist who cofounded Airborne Snow Observations, emphasized to the audience the importance of accurately measuring snowpack levels. “The snowpack is our biggest reservoir, that’s where we get most of our water in Colorado and the western U.S.” His company measures the snowpack levels from aircraft using lidar, a light-based measuring technology that uses a laser beam to measure landscapes.

The snowpack at the beginning of this year aligned with historical averages, but a wet and snowy March pushed the levels above average Deems explained. Combined with an exceptionally wet 2023, reservoirs throughout the system are also full. “Accurately measuring the snow above these reservoirs is essential to operating our system,” said Emily Carbone, a water resource specialist for Northern Water.

After a dry 2022, last year’s deluge provided a needed relief to reservoirs. “That resulted in getting most of the reservoirs, if not full, near full,” said Michael Hein, an engineer with the Colorado Division of Water Resources. Hein said they monitor reservoir levels using an index with data from 32 reservoirs and as of early April the reading was above average for this time of the year.

Last year, Northern Water announced a quota of 70% per share of C-BT. That means that every owner of a share was entitled to 70 percent of an acre-foot. One acre-foot is just under 326,000 gallons of water.

Shares of C-BT have become hot commodities in Northern Colorado among farmers and growing municipalities. In February, 186 shares of C-BT went to auction across two sales in Longmont and Ault.

The Yoakum Family sold 90 C-BT shares in Longmont on Feb. 14 for a total of $4.72 million. Across 37 different tracts, 15 buyers paid an average of $52,400 per share. Later in the month 96 units sold at a similar auction in Ault for an average price of just under $57,000 for a total of $5.47 million.

At the spring water symposium, Luke Shawcross, the manager of the water resources department at Northern Water explained that the system was in great shape as of early spring. “C-BT projects total storage is very good,” he said. With high storage and above-average snowpack this year, Shawcross said he expects Lake Granby will reach capacity sometime this summer. When that happens excess water will overflow down a massive spillway into the Colorado River. A big spill at Lake Granby would signal a strong year for water in Colorado.