WSP03537 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

CACHE LA POUDRE ~ASIN STUDY EXTENSION Status of Project Studies October 1987 1.0 INTRODUCTION -, The purpose of this memorandum is to provide an updated description of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District's plans concerning the proposed Cache la Poudre Project. Since the early 1980s, the District has been studying the Poudre Project, which as presently proposed, would be located on the Cache la Poudre River approximately 10 miles northwest of the City of Fort Collins below the community of Poudre Park. The objective of these studies has been to determine the viability of providing additional water storage in the Cache la Poudre Basin to help minimize the effects of drought in northeastern Colorado and improve the management of the water resources in this region. 2.0 ~ACKGROUND Proposals for constructing additional water storage projects in the Cache la Poudre Basin have been discussed since the early 1960s. During the 1970s and early 1980s, the issue of designating the entire river as a Wild and Scenic River upstream of the Poudre Canyon mouth was proposed. This would have precluded the construction of any water projects in the future. In 1983, at the urging of Congressman Hank Brown, the District and other local interests began to meet to work out a compromise which would designate a major portion of the river, yet allow for water storage projects on the short sections left undesignated. This resulted in proposed legislation to designate 75 miles of the Poudre River's 83 miles above the mouth of the canyon. The legislation was enacted and became law on October 30, 1986. As a result of the compromise and subsequent Wild and Scenic legislation, over 90 percent of the Cache la Poudre River above the canyon mouth will remain undeveloped and will be managed by the U. S. Forest Service. The 8 miles of river between the community of Poudre Park and the canyon mouth along with a short segment on the Poudre's South Fork remain undesignated and available for future water projects. After considering various alternatives for developing water storage in the undesignated sections, the District applied for and was granted a Preliminary Permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to investigate the- feasibility of including hydroelectric power generating components in the configuration of proposed projects (FERC Project No. 9290). As described in the District's Preliminary Permit application to FERC, the initial project configuration consisted of three reservoirs; Glade Reservoir, the Cache la Poudre Afterbay (or Grey Mountain) Reservoir, and the Cache la Poudre Forebay Reservoir. Glade Reservoir Was conceptually planned to provide the largest water supply component of the multipurpose project. Glade Reservoir could provide approximately 320,000 acre-ft of water storage off-channel