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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOUNCIL - AGENDA ITEM - 01/10/2012 - HALLIGAN-SEAMAN WATER MANAGEMENT PROJECT UPDATE (SDATE: January 10, 2012 STAFF: Dennis Bode, Donnie Dustin, Cliff Hoelscher, Kevin Gertig Pre-taped staff presentation: available at fcgov.com/clerk/agendas.php WORK SESSION ITEM FORT COLLINS CITY COUNCIL SUBJECT FOR DISCUSSION Halligan-Seaman Water Management Project Update. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The City of Fort Collins has been working for several years on the Halligan Reservoir Enlargement Project, as directed by previous City Council actions. The North Poudre Irrigation Company (NPIC) is also participating in the proposed Halligan enlargement project. In 2004, the City entered into an intergovernmental agreement with the City of Greeley, who is pursuing an enlargement of its Seaman Reservoir, to create a regional project known as the Halligan-Seaman Water Management Project (HSWMP). Both existing reservoirs are located on the North Fork of the Cache la Poudre River. The Halligan Project is intended to meet future needs of the City and maintain or improve the reliability of the water supply system for the City of Fort Collins through drought periods. It will also provide some redundancy in the supply system to reduce the City’s vulnerability to unpredictable raw water delivery issues. In 2005, the two cities and NPIC initiated the required federal permitting process for the HSWMP. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is conducting environmental studies and preparing one Environmental Impact Statement for the Halligan and Seaman projects. The Corps’ work includes assessing the need for the projects, evaluating potential alternatives to the projects, assessing environmental impacts and determining mitigation measures. GENERAL DIRECTION SOUGHT AND SPECIFIC QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED The Agenda Item Summary and presentation provide an update on the HSWMP, with a focus on the enlargement of Halligan Reservoir and progress on the permitting process. Staff will address any comments or questions regarding the project and the permitting process. BACKGROUND / DISCUSSION The City of Fort Collins relies on two main sources of water for its customers, Colorado-Big Thompson Project (CBT) water, which is delivered via Horsetooth Reservoir, and the Cache la Poudre River. As a result of past deliberations and decisions by the City Council and Water Board, the City owns relatively senior water rights on the Cache la Poudre River. The City owns and operates Joe Wright Reservoir, which has about 6,500 acre-feet of active capacity. Storing water in Joe Wright Reservoir from one year to the next (carryover) is physically limited to about 3,500 acre-feet. Horsetooth Reservoir is operated by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District (NCWCD). Poudre water supplies cannot be stored in Horsetooth Reservoir, which limits the January 10, 2012 Page 2 carryover potential. Although the City owns shares in local irrigation companies, the ability to store water in reservoirs controlled by these companies is limited. Water storage is important in Colorado due to the short duration of the snowmelt runoff season, as well as the significant variability in the annual amount of runoff. Storage enables the City to meet demands throughout the year and during droughts by efficiently using the water rights it already owns. Storage also helps protect the water supply system against vulnerabilities, which include climate change, infrastructure failures, wild fire impacts, and pine beetle impacts to watersheds. These risks may affect the amount, timing and quality of water supplies and may be addressed in part by a storage reserve. The enlargement of Halligan Reservoir has been a long-term goal for the City as indicated by past City Council actions. These actions include acquiring an interest in the enlargement of Halligan in 1987 (Resolution 1987-161), entering an agreement with NPIC to purchase Halligan for enlargement in 1993 (Resolution 1993-164), and exercising the option to proceed with enlarging Halligan and entering into agreements with other participants in 2003 (Resolution 2003-121). In 2003, City Council adopted the Water Supply and Demand Management Policy (WSDMP) by Resolution 2003-104. This Policy continued a 1-in-50 year drought criterion for assessing water supply needs and pursuing the development of storage. The policy also set water use goals to be met through demand management and water conservation measures. Since this policy was adopted, the City’s water use has continued to decline. In 2011, this Policy was reviewed and updated and is expected to be considered by City Council in early 2012. The proposed revised policy reflects lower water use, a storage reserve factor and other changes since adoption of the previous policy. The proposed enlargement of Halligan Reservoir will increase its capacity from about 6,500 acre- feet to around 21,000 acre-feet (down from 40,000 acre-feet contemplated a few years ago). This reduction is primarily because the three water districts, who were previously participants, dropped out of the project. Additionally, Fort Collins has reduced its water use, which has reduced the size needed for its share of capacity in Halligan. At about 21,000 acre-feet, this storage can help meet the storage capacity needs of the City (8,000 to 9,000 acre-feet) and NPIC (6,500 acre-feet of existing capacity plus an additional 5,000 acre-feet). Halligan has been considered a good choice for water storage since it is an enlargement of an existing reservoir and located above the intakes of the treatment plants. However, there are adverse impacts associated with enlarging Halligan, including the potential loss of wetlands, stream channel, and Preble’s Meadow Jumping Mouse habitat (a federally threatened species) around the reservoir. These and all other environmental impacts will be evaluated by the federal permitting process. In order to enlarge both reservoirs, Fort Collins and Greeley entered the federal permitting process required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps). The permitting process is assessing the project needs, studying project alternatives, identifying and evaluating all environmental consequences of the enlargement and defining required mitigation. The Corps is using a “common technical platform” to assess current and foreseeable projects on the Poudre River. Several baseline reports have been completed in the last six months as part of the resource studies that are being done. The draft environmental impact January 10, 2012 Page 3 statement (DEIS) for the HSWMP is expected in 2013. If permitted by the Corps and approved by City Council, the project could be operational by about 2017. The projected cost of the Halligan enlargement is approximately $43 million, with Fort Collins share being about $30 million. The project costs include acquisition ($5 million), permitting and mitigation ($10 million) and engineering and construction ($28 million). Through the third quarter of 2011, the project cost has been about $8 million, with Fort Collins share being about $4 million. Staff continues to believe that the Halligan enlargement, subject to Corps review and approval, will help the City provide a reliable water supply system for the long-term future. Staff will continue to work with the project partners, the Corps and other stakeholders to assure the HSWMP is sized appropriately and addresses all negative impacts. ATTACHMENTS 1. Powerpoint presentation 2. Glossary of Water Resources terms 1 1 Halligan-Halligan -Seaman Water Management Project Update City Council Work Session January 10, 2012 2 Purpose • Review and update Council on Halligan-Seaman Water Management Project – Description of project – Importance of storage – Why Halligan Reservoir – Permitting process • Address Council comments and answer questions about the project and ongoing permitting process ATTACHMENT 1 2 Halligan-Seaman Water Management Project Location Map 3 4 Halligan-Halligan -Seaman Water Management Project Regional Project with 3 water providers Reservoir Participants Halligan* City of Fort Collins North Poudre Irrigation Company (NPIC) Seaman City of Greeley * Tri-Districts withdrew from project in 2009 3 5 Proposed Enlargements • Enlargement of two existing reservoirs on the North Fork of the Poudre River – Halligan Res. from 6,500 to ~21,000 acre-feet (reduced from 40,000 acre-feet) • Existing size (NPIC) 6,500 acre-feet • NPIC Enlarged 5,000 acre-feet • Fort Collins Enlarged 8-9,000 acre-feet – Seaman Res. from 5,000 to ~53,000 acre-feet 6 Halligan Reservoir Inundation Inundation pool at 25,000 acre feet (proposed size around 21,000 acre-feet) 6 4 7 Why is Storage Important? • City water supply is from snowmelt runoff – Arrives quickly during spring runoff – Amount can vary widely year to year • Storage enables the City to meet demands: – Throughout the year – During drought years • Storage protects City from disruptions in supply Highly variable flows affect City water right yields 8 5 2/3rds of runoff occurs in 2 months 9 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Date Flow (cfs) Direct Flow Rights Water from Storage 2008 Actual Demands 130% of Average Poudre River Flows (1986) Water Supplies and Demands for Fort Collins Utilities Direct flow rights in excess of demands. Storage required to meet demands. 10 6 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Date Flow (cfs) Direct Flow Rights Water from Storage 2008 Actual Demands 30% of Average Poudre River Flows (2002) Water Supplies and Demands for Fort Collins Utilities Significant variation in water right yields. Some excess even in dry year. Much more storage required. 11 12 Fort Collins Water Supplies • Relatively senior water rights portfolio acquired over many years but limited storage • Joe Wright Reservoir – Only reservoir owned and operated by City – About 6,500 acre-feet of active capacity – Physical constraints limit maximum carryover to about 3,500 acre-feet 7 13 Other Storage • Horsetooth Reservoir (CBT Project) – Not the City’s reservoir – Administered by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District – City cannot store its Poudre supplies in Horsetooth – Policies limit carryover storage year-to-year • Ditch Company Reservoirs – Partial ownership with little control of use – Most downstream of treatment plant 14 Needs Met by Storage • System firm yield for future demands • Return flow obligations • Unexpected interruptions to supply system – CBT shutdown, forest fires, tanker spill, etc. 8 15 Basis for Storage Calculation • Water Supply – Based on 1-in-50 year drought criterion • Water Demand – Build out population of 155,000 – 162 gpcd (down from 185 gpcd) • Vulnerability - 15% storage reserve factor for disruptions in supply Corp’s preliminary modeling indicates Utility will need about 8,000-9,000 acre-feet of additional storage. These values subject to change. 16 9 17 Why Enlarge Halligan? • Existing reservoir • Strategically located – above treatment plant – in a different watershed • Collaboration with other Poudre water suppliers • Opportunity to improve flows in the North Fork • Meets critical needs at a reasonable cost • Considered an “Acceptable Planned Project” by Western Resource Advocates and others 17 18 Adverse Impacts of Enlarging Halligan • Altered flow and sediment regime • Potential loss of – about 4 acres of wetlands (down from 4.5 acres) – about 1.75 miles of stream channel (down from 2.5 miles) – up to 35 acres of potential Prebles Meadow Jumping Mouse habitat (down from 87 acres) • Permitting process will identify and address environmental consequences 10 19 Council Actions Related to Enlarging Halligan • 1987 – Acquired interest in enlargement of Halligan Reservoir (Res. 87-161) • 1993 – Entered option agreement with NPIC to purchase & enlarge Halligan Reservoir (Res. 93-164) • 2003 – Water Supply & Demand Management Policy (Res. 2003-104 – update in progress) • 2003 – Authority to exercise option to enlarge Halligan & enter agreements with other participants (Res. 2003-121) 20 Permitting Process • Entered NEPA process with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 2005 • Corps responsible for detailed environmental and alternatives analysis – Must permit Least Environmentally Damaging Practicable Alternative (LEDPA) • Using a “Common Technical Platform” for evaluating Halligan-Seaman and NISP 11 21 Common Technical Platform • Corps initiative started in February 2009 • Defined common protocols and analytical methods for all Poudre water projects • Extensive effort to develop hydrologic modeling • Baseline reports completed in last 6 months – Groundwater – Aquatics – Water quality – Wetlands and riparian habitat 22 Current Projected Schedule • 2005-2013 Permitting activities • Early 2013 Draft Environmental Impact Statement • Late 2013 Permitting decision • 2014-2015 Preliminary and final design • 2015-2016 Construction Schedule subject to change. 12 23 Halligan Enlargement Costs • Estimated Project Costs – Acquisition $ 5 Million – Permitting & mitigation $10 Million – Engineering & construction $28 Million Total $43 Million • Expenses through 3rd Qtr. 2011 $ 8 Million – Fort Collins share only $4 Million due to previous sharing with Tri-Districts • Total estimated Fort Collins share $30 Million 24 Outreach • Initial scoping meeting and presentation series • Website development (currently updating content) • Shared Vision Planning experiment (2008-2009) – Focus on enhancing flows in the North Fork • Working on additional outreach and stakeholder engagement as DEIS nears 13 25 Closing Thoughts • Storage continues to be a key need for our water supply system • City staff continues to work with project partners, Corps and stakeholders • Staff will continue to provide quarterly written updates regarding Halligan-Seaman and will schedule future work session updates if desired 26 Questions and Comments • With this update on the project, what comments or questions does Council have on – the project? – the ongoing permitting process? – related issues? ATTACHMENT 2 1 City of Fort Collins Utilities City Council Work Session Halligan-Seaman Water Management Project Update January 10, 2012 Glossary of Water Resources Terms 1-in-50 Year Drought Criterion - criterion adopted in the current Water Supply and Demand Management Policy that defines the level of risk for the City’s water supply system; a drought is a period of below average runoff that can last one or more years and is often measured by its duration, average annual shortage and cumulative deficit below the average; a 1-in-50 drought corresponds to a dry period that is likely to occur, on average, once every 50 years; although the Poudre River Basin has several drought periods in its recorded history, it is difficult to assess whether any of these droughts were equal in magnitude to a 1-in-50 drought; the 1985 Drought Study developed the 1-in-50 drought used in assessing the Utilities water supply system; this drought period is six years long and has a cumulative deficit of 550,000 acre-feet, which represents annual river volumes that are about 70% of the long-term average for the Poudre River; see also “Statistically Based Drought Analysis” Acceptable Planned Project - refers to a term used in a 2011 report by Western Resource Advocates “Filling the Gap: Commonsense Solutions for Meeting Front Range Water Needs” where it is mentioned that the Halligan and Seaman enlargements have the potential to be Acceptable Planned Projects if urban efficiency measures are implemented first and Poudre River (particularly the North Fork) flows and water quality are protected and/or restored Acre-Foot or Acre-Feet (AF) - volume of water equal to about 326,000 gallons; one acre- foot can supply around three single family homes in Fort Collins per year; for storage comparison the maximum volume of Horsetooth Reservoir is about 150,000 acre-feet Active Capacity - the usable capacity of a reservoir for storage and regulation of inflows and releases that does not include any capacity below the reservoir’s lowest outlet (which is known as dead capacity) Carryover - used in reference to storage; it is the ability to save water in storage for use at a later time, most notably in following years Change in Water Right - used to refer to changing water rights under Colorado water law from agricultural to municipal water use; see also “Legal Return Flows or Return Flow Obligations” Colorado-Big Thompson (CBT) Project - a Bureau of Reclamation project that brings water from the Colorado River basin to the east side of the continental divide via a tunnel and the Big Thompson River to several locations including Horsetooth Reservoir; ATTACHMENT 2 2 operated by the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District; Fort Collins Utilities currently owns 18,855 units of the 310,000 total units in the CBT project Cubic Feet per Second (cfs) - volumetric flow rate equal to one cubic foot flowing every second; for comparison, an average peak flow rate on the Poudre River at the Lincoln Street gage (downtown) is around 1,900 cfs and a median winter-time low flow rate in December at the same location is around 7 cfs CWG - short for Community Working Group; an advisory panel convened by Utilities in 2011 to gather input regarding an update to the Water Supply & Demand Management Policy Direct Flow Rights - water rights that can be taken for direct use, as opposed to storage rights that can be taken for later use; see also “Senior Water Rights” DEIS - short for Draft Environmental Impact Statement; a report detailing the findings of the NEPA permitting process; report can be reviewed by public for their comments which are typically addressed in a Final Environment Impact Statement; see also “NEPA” ELCO - short for East Larimer County Water District; see also “Tri-Districts” FCLWD - short for Fort Collins-Loveland Water District; see also “Tri-Districts” Firm Yield - a measure of the ability of a water supply system to meet water demands through a series of drought years; for the Fort Collins Utilities, this means being able to meet the planning demand level and storage reserve factor through the 1-in-50 year drought criterion; see also “1-in-50 Year Drought Criterion”, “planning demand level” and “storage reserve factor” gpcd - short for gallons per capita per day; a measurement of municipal water use; for the Fort Collins Utilities, gpcd is calculated based on the total annual treated water produced at the Water Treatment Facility for use by all Water Utility customers (minus large contractual customers and other sales or exchange agreements) divided by the estimated population of the Water Utility’s service area and 365 days HSWMP - short for Halligan-Seaman Water Management Project Legal Return Flows or Return Flow Obligations - refers to legal requirements when changing water rights from agricultural to municipal use; this process requires obtaining a decree from Colorado Water Court that involves detailed analysis of the historic agricultural water use, including the water diversions, amount used by the crops, and the return flow patterns of the water not used by the crops; terms in the decree to prevent municipalities from taking more water than was historically taken and replacing return flows in the right amount, location and time to prevent injury to other water rights ATTACHMENT 2 3 NEPA - short for National Environmental Policy Act; federal legislation that established environmental policy for the nation; it provides interdisciplinary framework for federal agencies to prevent environmental damage and contains “action-forcing” procedures to ensure that federal agency decision-makers take environmental factors into account NISP - short for Northern Integrated Supply Project Northern Water or NCWCD - short for Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District (NCWCD); Northern Water operates the Colorado-Big Thompson (CBT) Project and is involved in several other regional water projects on behalf of their participants NPIC - short for North Poudre Irrigation Company; a partner in the Halligan Reservoir enlargement project that supplies water to farmers north of Fort Collins NWCWD - short for North Weld County Water District; see also “Tri-Districts” Planning Demand Level - level of water use (demand) in gpcd used for water supply planning purposes that is a factor in determining the amount of water supplies and/or facilities needed; see also “gpcd” Storage Reserve Factor - refers to a commonly used engineering principle in designing water supply systems to address short-term supply interruptions; for the Fort Collins Utilities, the storage reserve factor incorporates having 15 percent of annual demands in storage through the 1-in-50 drought which equates to about 3 months of winter (indoor) demands or 1 month of summer demands Senior Water Rights - refers to Colorado water law’s use of the “prior appropriation” or priority system, which dictates that in times of short supply, earlier water rights decrees (senior rights) will get their water before others (junior rights) can begin to use water, often described as “first in time, first in right” Statistically Based Drought Analysis - refers to the 1985 report “Droughts and Their Effect on the Water Supplies for the City of Fort Collins, Colorado” (referred to as the 1985 Drought Study); the report was done primarily to study the effects of prolonged droughts and to define them in terms of the probability of their occurrence; synthetic hydrologic traces were produced based on statistical parameters of the historic data available, which allowed analysis of numerous artificial drought periods and a determination of representative droughts with calculated return frequencies; this report was done in conjunction with water resources experts at Colorado State University Tri-Districts - the combination of the three regional water districts ELCO, FCLWD and NWCWD; these districts share the same water treatment plant called Soldier Canyon Filter Plant, which is located adjacent to Fort Collins Utilities’ Water Treatment Facility Triple Bottom Line - refers to the Utilities for the 21st Century sustainability initiative to consider economic, social and environmental aspects in the decision making process ATTACHMENT 2 4 Water Rights Portfolio - the mix of water rights owned by a water supplier; typically includes water for direct use, as well as for storage for later use; for the Fort Collins Utilities, includes City owned water rights, owned and/or converted shares in agricultural rights, storage rights at Joe Wright Reservoir, and ownership in the CBT project WSDMP - short for Water Supply & Demand Management Policy Yield or Water Rights Yield - refers to the amount of water that is produced from a water right; the yield of water rights vary from year to year depending on the amount of water available (i.e., low or high river runoff) and the priority of the water right; see also “Firm Yield” and “Senior Water Rights”