Lake Pueblo Storage Levels on the Rise: Officials Contemplate What Could Happen If Reservoir Fills Over Winter Season.

By Chris Woodka, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.

Oct. 19–Lake Pueblo could fill to its maximum storage levels next spring for the first time since 2000, creating a situation in which some water users would lose water stored in the reservoir.

“If we have a wet year, there is the possibility that we could fill Pueblo Reservoir and there would possibly be a spill,” Jim Broderick, executive director of the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District, said Thursday.

Tom Musgrove, manager of the Pueblo Bureau of Reclamation office, told the Southeastern board plans are already in motion that will bring Lake Pueblo to full storage levels by March 15 next year.

Although the capacity of the reservoir is nearly 350,000 acre-feet, only about 257,000 acre-feet can be stored between April 15 and Oct. 31 in order to maintain flood control capacity. During the winter months, irrigators are able to store water in the reservoir.

Currently, Lake Pueblo has about 151,500 acre-feet in storage and releases have slowed. During the last month, about 7,500 acre-feet were released.

Of the water in storage, 45,500 acre-feet are in if-and-when accounts, while 24,665 acre-feet is winter water. The rest, including 28,000 acre-feet that cannot be released, is Fryingpan-Arkansas Project water.

The bureau is moving approximately 45,000 acre-feet of water from Turquoise and Twin Lakes to make room for imports from the Fryingpan River next spring. At least 40,000 acre-feet of winter water is expected to be added this year.

So, a wet spring similar to this year could bring levels close to or above the maximum storage level, Musgrove said.

“It could actually fill Pueblo Reservoir for the first time in six years,” Musgrove said. “Some of the water may have to be spilled.”

But that depends on weather conditions, and the timing of spring runoff, which has been coming earlier for the past few years.

The winter water now in storage must be released by May 1, 2008, and up to 70,000 acre-feet of new winter water could be stored next year with little danger of spilling.

The first water to spill would be Aurora’s 10,000 acre-foot excess capacity account, followed by excess-capacity accounts within the basin. The Pueblo Board of Water Works has a 6,000 acre-foot long-term account that would not be subject to spill immediately.

Next to spill would be any winter water above 70,000 acre-feet.

Most of those with if-and-when accounts would be able to buy Fry-Ark water to make up losses, except for Aurora, which cannot buy project water, and Pueblo West, which only may buy water when all other needs are satisfied under terms when it joined the district.

Pueblo West now has approximately 9,000 acre-feet in storage and would move it to Meredith Reservoir if it spills, exchanging it back to Lake Pueblo as conditions permit, said Don Saling, manager of the Pueblo West Metro District, when contacted following the meeting.

An extremely wet spring could mean downstream reservoirs also could fill.

“If that happened, I guess there would be a fire sale on water,” Saling said jokingly.

One Southeastern board member said the potential spilling of water highlights the need to study the enlargement of Lake Pueblo, a plan the district has supported since 2001, but so far has failed to move through Congress.

“To me, this kind of shoots down the argument that you don’t need to expand the reservoir,” said Gib Hazard, a director from El Paso County.

Since the reservoir began filling in 1975, there have been three periods when levels stayed mostly about 250,000 acre-feet: January 1984-May 1988, June 1995-July 1996 and May 1999-June 2000. In October 2003, levels hit a 20-year low of 64,000 acre-feet, which would have meant only approximately 36,000 acre-feet would have been available for use.

When levels were that low in 1983, it took about one year to refill.

Three dry years following the 2002 drought kept Lake Pueblo from refilling.

In 2006-07, water supplies returned to normal, helping replenish storage.

The valley is still running a water deficit of 1.4 million acre-feet since 2000 — or 200,000 acre-feet per year — according to Pat Edelmann of the U.S. Geological Survey.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.

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