NISP is a regional water supply project coordinated by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District on behalf of 15 Front Range water providers. Its goal is to provide participating water providers with approximately 40,000 acre-feet of new, reliable water supply.

The proposed Northern Integrated Supply Project would include:

 

Glade Reservoir

This reservoir would be located northwest of Fort Collins and north of Horsetooth Reservoir. It would be 5 miles long, 260 feet deep and have the capacity to store 170,000 acre-feet of water. As a point of comparison, Horsetooth holds about 156,000 acre-feet. The water to fill Glade Reservoir would be diverted from the Poudre River using the already existing Poudre Valley Canal. There will be no new structures on the river. U.S. Highway 287 between Fort Collins and the Wyoming border divides the proposed Glade Reservoir site. Therefore, about seven miles of the highway would be relocated.

 

 

South Platte Water Conservation Project (Galeton Reservoir)

Galeton would be located east of Ault and northeast of Greeley. It would hold about 40,000 acre-feet of water at full capacity. The water to fill Galeton would be diverted from the South Platte River downstream from Greeley. Galeton water would be delivered to two agricultural irrigation companies in exchange for Poudre River water they currently use. What does this mean? More than half of the water that NISP will divert from the Poudre River is water that has already been diverted for decades.