Federal climate scientists say the next three months will be tough for drought-plagued Texas and some neighboring states, including Colorado.
But even after a relatively dry summer 鈥� especially for the southeastern region of the state - most reservoirs in northern Colorado are at or near capacity, thanks largely to last winter鈥檚 record or near-record mountain snowpack.
鈥淥ur engineers, our forecasters have been using the word 鈥榚pic鈥� all year; and they said we鈥檙e never going to see another runoff year like this,鈥� says Brian Werner, a spokesman for Northern Water.
He notes that there鈥檚 no such thing as an 鈥榓verage鈥� water year 鈥� which is why the agency is proposing the construction of two additional reservoirs.
鈥淲e鈥檙e either above or we鈥檙e below. You鈥檙e always trying to match those good years, and store that water so you鈥檝e got it in those dry years,鈥� he says.
Front Range residents remain divided over the proposal, citing lowered water levels in the Poudre River and the potential loss of irrigated farmland. But Werner says that this year鈥檚 runoff, combined with the previous two years, would have filled one of the proposed reservoirs while still providing downstream users with above average supplies.
