Deliver Water
Collecting and Delivering Water to Northeastern Colorado
In 1937, the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District was created to contract with the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation to build the Colorado-Big Thompson Project. Owned by the federal government, the C-BT Project, collects supplemental water west of the Continental Divide and delivers it to more than a million people in Northeastern Colorado for agricultural, municipal, domestic and industrial purposes. Our water project efforts expanded in 1970 with the creation of Northern Water’s Municipal Subdistrict by six Front Range municipalities searching for additional water supplies. This eventually resulted in construction of the Windy Gap Project during the early 1980s.
The C-BT Project’s series of pump plants, tunnels, pipelines, penstocks and canals transport more than 200,000 acre-feet of water per year from the Upper Colorado River basin to the East Slope. The C-BT Project consists of 12 reservoirs, 35 miles of tunnels and 95 miles of canals, with the 13.1-mile long Alva B. Adams Tunnel beneath the Continental Divide serving as the key to the entire project.
Planning for Our Future
As our population growth continues, Northern Water is collaborating with its constituents to plan and implement water projects to meet Northern Colorado’s future water needs.
The proposed Northern Integrated Supply Project northwest of Fort Collins will provide approximately 40,000 acre-feet of new, reliable water supply to project participants. Chimney Hollow Reservoir, the major component of the Windy Gap Firming Project, is being built in southern Larimer County to store water for 13 communities and water districts.
Learn More About our Future Projects