Water Committee Agenda and Packet 2013 01 31

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Jan 2013 Draft Revisions City of Louisville Drought Management Plan I NTRODUCTION This drought management plan is a guide for the City of Louisville for the varying degrees of drought experienced in the normal variations of weather patterns. The purpose of this document is to identify the conditions, which formally place the City in a designated level of drought and predetermine the general responses appropriate for given drought conditions. It also establishes the general framework for when drought conditions require special communications with residents and the type of information anticipated to be communicated. DD EFINING A ROUGHT Defining a drought is somewhat difficult given the degrees to which droughts occur. In general, a drought is an event of unknown duration wherebyavailable water is significantly less than a community is normally accustomed to. Droughts can be defined two ways, 1) the duration in which normal water supplies to do not materialize, and 2) the extent or amount of deficiency in normal precipitation from a historic average. Colorado has historically seen cycles of above and below average precipitation. Even though these variations are part of the natural weather cycle they still present a risk to our quality of life. The impact of a drought can be social, environmental, and economic. However, a drought’s impact can be mitigated through good planning and preparedness. L’WSS OUISVILLESATER UPPLY YSTEM The City of Louisville was founded in 1878. For a number of years the community’s water system was based solely on Louisville Reservoir, which was constructed in the late 1890’s. During the 1950’s drought, the community realized this facility could not handle resident needs for water during dryer weather cycles. Therefore, in the mid 1950’s the Cityconstructed a steel pipeline to divert water from South Boulder Creek at Eldorado Springs to Louisville Reservoir. In addition, the City embarked on a program of acquiring additional summer water rights to supplement its water supply. As the community grew, additional efforts were taken to enhance the reliability and quantity of water available to Louisville. These efforts included obtaining a contract right to store water in Marshall Lake, a major reservoir in the Louisville area and constructing Harper Lake Reservoir in 1985. In the 1990’s, after a number of years of significant growth, the City realized the community’s water supply could not be reliably obtained solely from South Boulder Creek and Marshall Lake. Therefore, the City of Louisville joined the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District allowing access to Colorado Big Thompson (C- BT) and Windy Gap water resources. Since that time, theNorthern Colorado Water Conservancy District (NCWCD) has been the primary focus of the City’s ongoing efforts to provide a reliable water supply. As of 2012, the City’s water rights portfolio is valued at over $50 million. 1