With the construction of Chimney Hollow Reservoir, the participants in the Windy Gap Firming Project will have the opportunity to capture and store water when it is available for multiple-year deliveries, knowing there will be seasons in future years when snowfall is below average. The construction of reservoirs helps moderate the ups and downs of annual precipitation and has enabled Colorado’s population and food production systems to grow and prosper for more than a century.
April 12, 2023
Colorado River Sees Strong Precipitation – Highlighting the Need for Chimney Hollow Reservoir
A parade of snowstorms through the American West this winter has water managers across the region cautiously optimistic about the near-term water supply, but for communities building Chimney Hollow Reservoir, the snowy weather underscores the need for the new water storage project.
According to data from the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Upper Colorado River watershed is at about 113 percent of its annual average for precipitation. Further downstream in the Colorado River Basin, other tributaries such as the Gunnison River and San Juan River are showing even larger snowpack totals compared to historic averages. For communities throughout the basin, that is great news.
The above-average snowpack in the Upper Colorado River Basin means there is a strong chance that the Colorado-Big Thompson Project reservoirs will fill this summer, too. That’s good news for residents of Northern Colorado who depend on the supplemental water supply that the C-BT Project delivers, but it’s not as good for the participants in the Windy Gap Project. They have an agreement with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation that allows them to use available capacity in Lake Granby to store Windy Gap water for future delivery, but if Lake Granby is full of C-BT Project water, no storage capacity is available for Windy Gap water.
