The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutMemo - Read Before Packet - 3/23/2021 - Memorandum From Mark Kempton Re: March 23, 2021 City Council Work Session Agenda Item #4 - Staff Report On Impacts Of Winter Storm Xylia On Water Supply And Water QualityUtilities electric · stormwater · wastewater · water PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.212.2900 V/TDD: Dial 711 for Relay Colorado utilities@fcgov.com fcgov.com/utilities M E M O R A N D U M DATE: March 23, 2021 TO: Mayor Troxell and Councilmembers FROM: Mark Kempton, Interim Utilities Deputy Director THROUGH: Darin Atteberry, City Manager Kelly DiMartino, Deputy City Manager Theresa Connor, Interim Utilities Executive Director RE: March 23, 2021 City Council Work Session Agenda Item #4 Staff Report on the impacts of Winter Storm Xylia on water supply and water quality. Bottom Line: In March 2021, a significant winter storm dropped over 35 inches of snow in the Cache la Poudre Watershed. While this snow event has helped bring the snowpack to 95% of average, it will likely not bring Larimer County out of its current drought status. To date, due to the slow melting and soil infiltration nature of snow melt, no water quality impacts have been observed in the Poudre River. It is expected that as spring runoff occurs in May and June, and summer thunderstorms occur over the Cameron Peak Fire burn scar, water quality in the River will periodically degrade to the point where the Water Treatment Facility will need to switch sources to 100% Horsetooth Reservoir. Through continuous water quality monitoring in the Poudre River, Water Treatment Facility staff can quickly respond to rain runoff events and maintain the high quality of our drinking water supply. Staff continues to monitor and identify State and Federal funding sources for watershed restoration. Staff are engaged with other financial partners and stakeholders to ensure that we can treat the burned areas that have the highest impact on our water supply. Background: On March 13and 14,a major snowstorm, named Winter Storm Xylia, brought significant snowfall to Colorado, including areas impacted by the Cameron Peak Fire (CPF). The storm brought approximately 24 inches of snow to Fort Collins and 35+ inches in the Rustic and Cameron Pass areas of the Cache la Poudre watershed. The following provides a summary of known and potential impacts to water supply and water quality for Fort Collings Utilities’ customers. Events like this affect water supply and water quality. Water Supply Impacts: The depth and moisture content of the snow was unusually high and helped improve snowpack, however, the storm is not expected to fully erase drought conditions. The ability to use and treat Poudre River water supplies will depend on potential impacts to water quality from last year’s wildfires in the watershed. Staff are continuing to monitor watershed and water quality conditions and assess if limits to water use are still necessary this year. The storm significantly increased the snow water equivalent (SWE), which is a common measurement used to gauge the amount of water that will be released when the snow melts. SWE is a primary measurement taken at what are commonly referred to as SNOTEL (SNOwpak TELemetry) sites and is a more appropriate measurement than snow depth. At the Joe Wright Reservoir SNOTEL station near Cameron Pass, there was an increase of 2.6 inches of snow water equivalent which increased the percent of median for that station from 81 percent before the storm to 95 percent currently. There was slightly less snowfall from the storm in the Upper Colorado River basin, which supplies water to the Colorado-Big Thompson Project and is available to the City via Horsetooth Reservoir. Overall, snowpack in the Upper Colorado is currently at 89 percent of median. Water Quality Impacts: As of March 21, 2021, Fort Collins Utilities (Utilities) has not seen any impacts on water quality from the recent snowstorm. Utilities employs continuous water quality monitoring at its Poudre River Intake and staff have been closely monitoring for changes in water quality. Utilities can rely for several months on water supplies stored in Horsetooth Reservoir, if water quality in the Poudre River degrade quickly. It is common to use less water from the Poudre River during spring runoff in May and June which is when the river levels rise as the snowpack melts with warming spring temperatures. This period routinely stirs up sediment, which can be challenging to manage no matter the conditions in the watershed. Looking ahead staff expect impacts to water quality from snowmelt during spring runoff and from summertime storm rain events. Snowmelt is less erosive and mobilizes less ash and sediment than rain events which disturb the soil more. Fire-impacted soils are not able to absorb and hold as much moisture, meaning both snowmelt and rain events are expected to have substantially greater impacts to water quality in burned areas than in unburned areas. Watershed Recovery Impacts: The Water Providers group is a group of affected municipal, irrigation, and other water suppliers in the Poudre basin that is working closely with Larimer County on the Fire recovery effort. In conjunction with the Coalition for the Poudre River Watershed (CPRW), this group continues to pursue several funding sources to facilitate near-term watershed stabilization work, as well as longer-term restoration projects. Currently, we are working with the City of Greeley and Larimer County to leverage federal Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) funds to implement emergency stabilization actions on a small number of acres of private lands in the Poudre watershed. EWP funds require an 80% NRCS/ 20% local matching. More challenging is finding avenues to leverage Utilities’ dollars to implement stabilization treatments on United State Forest Service (USFS) lands on the Arapahoe-Roosevelt National Forest upstream of these private lands. The Cities of Greeley and Fort Collins and CPRW worked together with a third-party consultant to identify 10,600 acres of highest priority areas that meet criteria for aerial wood mulching, with the work anticipated to cost $19,000,000. The vast majority of these highly targeted treatment acres are on federal USFS lands and do not yet have identified source of federal funding for post-fire treatments. Table 1 below, provides a summary of approved and pending recovery funding sources. Additionally, an advocacy letter sent to Governor Polis on March 22, included a Attachment 1, encourages Governor Polis to utilize the recent passed American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) resources to create green jobs undertaking the important and urgent work of wildfire recovery; Mayor Troxell is included on the signature line of this advocacy letter. Table 1: Approved and Pending Recovery Funding Sources Category Status Amount Use Municipal Appropriations Pending ~$9,000,000 Watershed Treatments and Monitoring, Water Treatment Facility Needs Foundations- Nonprofits Approved $47,000 Tree Planting, CPRW Staffing and Watershed Treatments Government Grants Approved $457,140 Watershed Treatments and Monitoring Emergency Watershed Protection Approved $500,000*Watershed Treatments and Monitoring Colorado Water Conservation Board Pending Unknown Watershed Treatments and Monitoring Northern Colorado Community Foundation Pending Unknown TBD *Initial EWP allocation for Greeley to complete first round of treatments at Chambers Lake and is not total allocation. Total allocation has not been determined but could be as much as $4 million. CC: Liesel Hans, Interim Utilities Deputy Director Jill Oropeza, Director Water Quality Services Donnie Dustin, Utilities Water Resources Manager Mariel Miller, Water Conservation Specialist Water Board Attachment 1 Federal American Resuce Plan Act Advocacy Letter