Securing Water Storage For Our Future
The Chatfield Storage Reallocation Project (CSRP) came about as the result of a growing demand for water in Colorado’s Front Range and on northeast Colorado farms. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) determined Chatfield Reservoir can accommodate an additional 20,600 acre feet of water storage for water supply without compromising its flood control function. This additional storage space will be used by municipal and agricultural water providers to help meet the diverse needs of the state.
To address the potential impacts of additional water storage, project participants completed recreational modifications and environmental mitigation at Chatfield State Park in April 2020. On May 12, 2020, The Corps issued its approval that the CSRP had successfully met all of the recreational modifications and environmental mitigation projects, allowing the project participants the right to store available water in the new reallocation pool.
With the successful implementation of all the project requirements, the CSRP now enters a new phase of monitoring and reporting to the Corps of on-site and off-site mitigation efforts that will continue for at least the next five years.
Chatfield Storage Reallocation Project Video
For a quick overview of the Chatfield Storage Reallocation Project, please watch the short film posted here. It provides a summary of the project history, purpose and need. It also provides a brief explanation on the recreational and environmental modifications that were implemented to accommodate the additional water storage within the reservoir as well as the monitoring activities that will continue over the next few years.
Click here to watch the pre-construction video from 2017.
Factors to Storage in the Reallocation Pool
There are several factors involved in how fast and how much the reallocation pool will fill each year, including climate and flood conditions, the rate of flows from Plum Creek and South Platte River, the calls being made from non-CSRP water rights holders, and the priority status and operations of the Project Participants.
For information on current drought conditions, please visit the U.S. Drought Monitor website at: https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/
For information on snowpack conditions, please visit the Colorado SNOTEL website at: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/co/snow/products/?cid=nrcseprd1432263
Water for Agriculture
The additional storage space in Chatfield Reservoir will serve several purposes including municipal, agricultural, environmental, and recreational uses.
Some of the agricultural benefits of the Chatfield Storage Reallocation Project for Adams, Morgan, and Weld Counties’ farms and ranches include:
- Chatfield Storage Reallocation Project makes use of an existing water storage facility thus avoiding the cost of a new reservoir.
- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved Chatfield Reservoir storing an additional 20,600-acre feet of water storage without limiting its usefulness as a flood control structure.
- The water will primarily originate from annual snowmelt in addition to stormwater runoff within the South Platte River Basin.
- The water will be captured and stored in Chatfield Reservoir in wet years, then released when it is most needed downstream.
- Without new water storage projects like Chatfield Storage Reallocation Project, much of the spring runoff travels downstream and flows out of state.
- Releases from storage in Chatfield for use by Central Colorado Water Conservancy District (CCWCD) will typically be left in the river for augmentation purposes, saving energy costs by operating a gravity flow reservoir system.
- CCWCD subdistricts supply augmentation water to more than 1,000 irrigation wells over a surface area of more than 360,000 acres of land in Adams, Morgan and Weld counties.
- It will help cities and special districts meet agricultural and municipal drinking water needs both above and below Chatfield.
- It will provide opportunities for environmental and recreational enhancements along the nearly 50-mile South Platte River corridor stream segment from Chatfield Reservoir through the Denver metro area to below the Adams County-Weld County line.
- This rare opportunity enjoys broad support from municipal, agricultural, and environmental interests
Chatfield Environmental Pool
The Chatfield Environmental Pool was created as part of the agreement between the project participants and Colorado Parks and Wildlife, as outlined in the State’s Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Plan, C.R.S. 37-60-122.2 (122.2 Plan), approved January 2014.
Of the total amount of 20,600 acre-feet that comprises the reallocated storage space in Chatfield Reservoir, the 122.2 Plan identified that 1,600 acre-feet of the space will be dedicated as an “environmental pool,” which will be used for strategic releases downstream of Chatfield Reservoir to enhance stream flows and water quality in the South Platte River.
These strategic releases will not only provide recreational and environmental benefits downstream of Chatfield Reservoir, but will also be utilized by downstream water providers for agricultural purposes.
The Chatfield Environmental Pool is a great example of the type of project called for in the 2015 Colorado Water Plan for maximizing water resources through projects that provide multiple benefits for multiple users.
The Environmental Pool has been expanded to 2,100-acre feet of the reallocated space because of the generosity of a partnership of 22 public and private, foundation and non-profit entities and individuals, including the following:
- Colorado Parks and Wildlife: 1,000 AF
- Colorado Water Conservation Board: 600 AF
- Denver Water: 250 AF
- City and County of Denver: 50 AF
- Walton Family Foundation: 45 AF
- Adams County: 25 AF
- Arapahoe County: 15 AF
- Weld County: 15 AF
- Gates Family Foundation: 13 AF
- City of Englewood: 10 AF
- City of Littleton: 10 AF
- Mile High Flood District: 10 AF
- South Suburban Parks & Recreation District: 10 AF
- The Greenway Foundation: 10 AF
- The Colorado Parks Foundation: 10 AF
- The Shoemaker Family: 10 AF
- Denver Trout Unlimited: 10 AF
- City of Sheridan: 3 AF
- Town of Columbine Valley: 1 AF
- Capitol Representatives (Marge Price and David Howlett): 1 AF
- South Metro Land Conservancy: 1 AF
- Evan and Kim Ela: 1 AF