In the Colorado-Big Thompson Project’s history, never has its water storage reached 2023 levels.
The Colorado-Big Thompson Project serves water to 33 municipalities including Longmont. It primarily stores water in Lake Granby, Horsetooth Reservoir and Carter Lake. Together these storage reservoirs can hold around 800,000 acre-feet.
In July 2017 and July 2019, the reservoirs reached around or just above the 800,000 acre-feet level. This July, the reserve of water hit an all-time record of 803,291 acre-feet, beating the previous record by 769 acre-feet in 2019.
Rainfall totals for July in Longmont were around 1.72 inches, according to the National Weather Service. June’s total was 4.89 inches and May hit 6.5 inches. Longmont has received a total of 16.61 inches of precipitation this year, according to National Weather Service data. Colorado averages 15.9 inches of precipitation a year.
Much like Longmont, other parts of the state have seen an increase in precipitation this year. The extra precipitation has allowed 60,000 acre-feet of water above normal required releases to be released from Lake Granby and Willow Creek Reservoir. This water will flow down the Colorado River.
“The high storage levels in the reservoirs should also set the region up for adequate water supplies into 2024,” Northern Water stated in its newsletter.
