Grand County and Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, otherwise known as Northern Water, have agreed to work together on an operational framework that will give Grand County’s waterways as much as 7,000 acre-feet of additional controllable water from the Colorado-Big Thompson Project for stream enhancement. The volume available for streamflow improvement will be dependent on annual river conditions and C-BT Project storage levels.

The agreement was approved by the Grand County Commissioners on April 23.

Water made available under this agreement to the county will be released to the Willow Creek Reservoir or the Colorado River. This water will supplement existing flows and could accumulate to nearly 40,000 acre-feet over the course of a decade, according to a joint news release from Grand County and Northern Water.

Prior to 2005, this water was used for irrigation of hay fields near the town of Granby. However, the lands have since been converted for residential and commercial development.

This additional water will benefit Grand County’s recreation and agriculture industries.

Grand County and Northern Water will work together in the coming months to create an agreement that will be presented to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for implementation.

The water was previously captured by the C-BT Project and used for Northeastern Colorado communities.

“The operational framework agreement will provide the county with an additional water management tool to improve and enhance flows on the Colorado River,” Grand County Commissioner Chair Merrit Linke said.