Northern Colorado leaders rallied Thursday urging quicker green lights for their “ultimate rain barrel” — a $713 million project that would divert water from the federally protected Cache La Poudre River and store 71 billion gallons in two new reservoirs.
This is like calling tigers “the ultimate kittens”.
Interesting. How do impoundment projects like this effect the Colorado River Compact? At least in the near term, it reduces outflow, one would think.
The Cache La Poudre River runs northeast out of Rocky Mountain National Park and then goes southeast through Poudre Canyon and Fort Collins and eventually joins up with the South Platte River (then the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers). It contributes no water to the Colorado River and so has no relationship to the Colorado River Compact.
I lived in Fort Collins for 23 years, and these plans keep coming up like zombies. This time it’s all about the growth in Weld County (Greeley) from oil and gas expansion via fracking. Once again, this will end up in court fights and “Don’t Damn the Poudre” bumper stickers.
It is the only Wild and Scenic River in the entire state of Colorado.
(headslap, doh!) I thought it went Missouri way but somehow convinced myself otherwise–end of day dementia, we’ll say. The thing is big water plans still carry a semi-regal air about them. I think it has to do with the American, no the Western American sense of all conquering ability and eternal growth. The almighty dollar may be in there somewhere as well.