Final federal approval has been secured for the building of two massive reservoirs in growing northern Colorado.
The Northern Integrated Supply Project is designed, upon completion, to get water to more than a dozen cities, towns, and water districts in the northern section of the Centennial State.
The new water storage reservoirs will provide water for an estimated half a million people.
For years, local officials in northern Colorado have talked about what they regard as a pressing need for more water in a part of the state that is expected to see a doubling of its population in the next three decades.
Now, the U.S. Corps of Engineers has issued a final permit to build the Northern Integrated Supply Project, which is expected to cost $2 billion to complete. Upon that completion, the new reservoirs will be capable of supplying up to 40,000 acre-feet of water on an annual basis.
Design work on the two reservoirs is currently underway, with the actual construction expected to launch either in late 2024 or the early part of 2025. If all goes as anticipated, the big project will be completed sometime in 2029.
Although the project has been opposed by some environmental groups, a press release issued by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District noted that the Corps of Engineers had concluded that it was the “least environmentally impactful means” of satisfying the increasing water needs of the region.
By Garry Boulard
