WSP07965

• File Number: 8446
• Description: Cache La Poudre Project
• State: CO
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 7/1/1983
• Title: Cache La Poudre Project Study and Related Correspondence
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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EXECUTIVE SUMMl\RY

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A. AUTHORITY

In 1981, tile Colorado General Assembly authorized the Colorado Water
Conservation Board (CWCB) to conduct studies of four potential water resources
development projects. Among them was "the Cache la Poudre Project - an
integrated project upstream of the town of Fort Collins on the Cache la poudre
River" (Section 7, S.B. 439).

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The CWCB retained Tudor Engineering Company to perform the Cache la Poudre
study. Expenditures were limited by S.B. 439 to $300,000. In addition, S.B.
439 specifies that future funding" is contingent upon a showing that
additional funding is justified based on competent engineering and economic
data."

B. STUDY OBJECTIVE

The objective of the Cache la Poudre Project Study was: to evaluate, at a
reconnaissance level of detail, the engineering and economic feasibility of
alternative projects which could develop new water. supplies, improve the
management of already developed water and provide hydroelectric power
production. The alternative projects consisted of one or more storage
reservoirs together with all appurtenances and associated features including
hydropower facilities.

Reconnaissance-level studies (such as the Cache la poudre Study) are not
intended to provide specific data or designs from which construction can
proceed. The intent of these studies is to investigate major concepts and to
identify and evaluate various alternative project configurations. An
evaluation of such alternative projects provides a preliminary indication of
project viability and is the basis for decisions of whether or not to proceed
with more detailed feasibility-level studies.

Consistent with the legislative intent of S.B. 439 and the constraints
imposed by time and budget limitations, this study did not analyze a non-
structural alternative nor evaluate the environmental and recreational impacts
of any of the alternative projects under consideration. Rather, this study
was limited to addressing the threshold questions of whether there appears to
be any project which may be feasible from an engineering and economic point of
view. Subsequent, detailed feasibility studies will, should they be
undertaken, need to thoroughly address all impacts, both beneficial and
adverse, of any potential project.

C. STUDY CONTENT

The reconnaissance-level investigations for this study included the
following major elements:

Analyses of the water supply and flood hydrology and sedimentation

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