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Greeley city council has voted in favor of acquiring a large aquifer on the Colorado-Wyoming border to supply future growth in times of drought.

Over the last couple years, Greeley's leaders have focused their energy on testing and developing an underground water supply to make that growth possible. The Terry Ranch project, estimated to cost upwards of $318 million to fully build out, would give the city access to an untapped water source 鈥� a rarity on the fast-growing, water-tight Front Range.

Record-breaking wildfires in 2020 turned huge swaths of Western forests into barren burn scars. Those forests store winter snowpack that millions of people rely on for drinking and irrigation water. But with such large and wide-reaching fires, the science on the short-term and long-term effects to the region鈥檚 water supplies isn鈥檛 well understood.

For many communities in the West, the water that flows out of kitchen faucets and bathroom showerheads starts high up in the mountains, as snowpack tucked under canopies of spruce and pine trees. This summer鈥檚 record-breaking wildfires have reduced some of those headwater forests to burnt trees and heaps of ash.

Fort Collins residents are reducing their water use below a threshold needed to keep the city from experiencing a possible shortage.

The city of Fort Collins is mandating temporary outdoor water restrictions this fall for the first time since 2013, due to a combination of drought, wildfire runoff and routine reservoir maintenance.

Larimer County commissioners voted to approve a controversial water supply project Wednesday night. In a 2-1 vote, commissioners paved the way for the Northern Integrated Supply Project (NISP) to be fully permitted.

The Cameron Peak Fire burning near the headwaters of the Cache la Poudre River could complicate some routine maintenance scheduled for the city of Fort Collins鈥檚 drinking water infrastructure this fall.

The Cache la Poudre River in Northern Colorado is often referred to as a 鈥渨orking river.鈥� It provides drinking water for cities and irrigation water for farms. During the summer months it鈥檚 popular with kayakers, tubers and anglers. It鈥檚 home to fish, birds and other wildlife.

A vote on the fate of the Northern Integrated Supply Project, a water project more than two decades in the making, is set to take place Wednesday.