City Council Minutes 2002 05 07 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Louisville City Council Meeting May 7, 2002 Page 12 Public Works Director Tom Phare provided an updated projection of the water supply and demand. He stated that Louisville has approximately 5,000 acre-foot annual demands, including 250 acre-feet for the golf course. He reviewed a supply and demand projection that would be above zero balance in eleven months. He explained that the City has two water treatment plants totaling 13 million gallons of gross treatment capacity. Two major pipelines supply the City water, one from South Boulder Creek/Eldorado Springs, which is capable of delivering approximately 320 acre-feet per month. The second is the Carter Lake pipeline, with the Northern Colorado Water District, with a capacity of 340 acre-feet per month. He stated that the total is 660 acre- feet per month and sufficient for a community the size of Louisville, however the raw water storage has become questionable. He reported that 1,200 acre-feet of water is stored at Marshall Lake and 1,000 acre-feet of water at Carter Lake, however, a .7 acre- foot yield has been set and will be delivered. Phare summarized that in addition to the 660 acre-feet of usable storage water in Harper Lake, there is approximately 2,800 acre- feet of water for use, however far short of the 5,000 acre-feet normally used in a 12- month cycle. Of the 2,800 acre-feet of water in storage, 900 acre-feet were carried over from previous years water rights. Phare reviewed the historical inflows of the South Boulder Creek diversions. In 1999 there was 3,667 acre-feet and in 2002 there is a projection of 1,410 acre-feet. He stated that for protection purposes, the City is assuming only the most senior water rights, which is Howard Water Rights. He stated that there is a projection for an exchange out of Baseline Reservoir, however there has to be ditches to bring the water to the City facilities. He noted that they have projected no yield from the Windy Gap system, as it is an extremely junior water right. He projected that Marshall Lake will yield 1 acre-foot per share, which is a senior winter storage right on the creek. The Louisville Reservoir is the second senior right, and will yield of 290 acre-feet. Phare stated that Marshall Lake provided approximately 700 acre-feet of continual storage, however, inflows appear to be down from 1,400 acre-feet. He projected that, if the first six days of May correlate to the rest of May, there will be half the stream flow of South Boulder Creek of the lowest May on record since 1905. He stated that this is a very severe circumstance, well beyond the 50-year drought pattern identified in the Raw Water Master Plan. Phare stated that he would like to reserve 1,000 acre-feet of insurance water as of November 1, 2002. That would require a 20% savings on the normal 12- month demand. He noted that would require saving 40% of the water used for irrigation. Phare stated that he had suggestions for water conservation measures and would answer any questions about the City's water supply. Mayer asked Phare if any Windy Gap water is stored at Carter or Granby Lake. Phare stated at the beginning the year the City had 341 acre-feet of water in Windy Gap CBT system. Mayer asked if there was any Windy Gap drought surplus water stored. Phare stated that a few years ago all the Windy Gap water was removed from Granby because CBT water 12