There鈥檚 a stretch of highway in Larimer County where prairie grasses sway with each passing vehicle. Cars, horse trailers and semi trucks zip through the valley on their way between Fort Collins and Laramie. Soon, it鈥檒l be under more than 200 feet of water.
It鈥檚 the planned site of Glade Reservoir, the cornerstone of a massive new water storage system designed to meet the demands of fast-growing towns and cities in Northern Colorado. After more than two decades of permitting, planning and environmental lawsuits, it鈥檚 closer than ever to breaking ground.
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But along the way, some things changed. Over the years, costs to build the reservoir system 鈥� and reroute seven miles of U.S. Highway 287 鈥� have ballooned. Price estimates for the Northern Integrated Supply Project, often referred to as NISP, went from $400 million to $2.2 billion. Because of that, some of the towns that signed up to use its water are cutting back on their involvement before the reservoir system stores a single drop.
Northern Water, the agency building NISP, has projected confidence that it will still get built as planned. The long road from idea to construction, and the things that have changed along the way, can tell us a lot about how Northern Colorado uses water, and how much it costs to keep taps flowing.
Rising costs
When it was first pitched, in the early 2000s, NISP garnered support as a way to make sure small towns with fast-growing populations could host new housing developments without going dry.
For a tiny town like Severance, that was an attractive proposition. Just 11 years ago, about midway through the NISP planning process, the town had a population of about 3,000. That鈥檚 when Nicholas Wharton took the job as town manager. Since then, he鈥檚 overseen the installation of the town鈥檚 first stoplight, the from-scratch development of its own police department and a homebuilding boom that has nearly quadrupled Severance鈥檚 population.
Signing on to NISP, he said, was a way to make sure Severance had enough water for all that growth.
鈥淚 think for smaller towns,鈥� he said, 鈥淚t was a great idea back when it was affordable to us.鈥�
Since then, Severance has cut back on the amount of water it will store in NISP, and the amount it will pay to be a part of the project. At one point, the town held 2,000 shares of the project. In 2024, it sold off 1,500 of those shares. Wharton said the town council might try to sell off even more.
And Severance isn鈥檛 alone.
Due West, in Eaton, town officials also got cold feet. They were one of four NISP shareholders to of their involvement in the new reservoir project on the same day in July 2024.
For years, the water agencies that were part of NISP were mostly focused on paperwork 鈥� making sure the project had the permits it needed to get built. Then, there was a lawsuit from environmentalists standing in the way. But after NISP鈥檚 proponents were mostly seeing green lights on permits and decided to settle a major lawsuit, the focus shifted to money.
鈥淚 think the question for us now is, how do we afford this?,鈥� said Wesley Lavanchy, Eaton鈥檚 town administrator. 鈥淢oving forward, how much can we afford? It's like chocolate cake. You like it, it tastes great, but you can't eat the whole thing.鈥�
Ultimately, Eaton decided to sell off more than half of its NISP shares.
鈥淚 suspect that more entities would have been able to hold their commitment had the permitting process not drug on so long, the cost escalated, the litigation kind of wrapped things up,鈥� Lavanchy said.
Cheaper alternatives
While the cost to build NISP has gone up, the cost of other water sources has gone down. Eaton and Severance said it鈥檚 getting easier to afford shares of the Colorado-Big Thompson project, which was a big motivator in their pullback from NISP.
That project, referred to as CBT, pipes water from the Colorado River across the continental divide. It flows underneath Rocky Mountain National Park and into major reservoirs along the Northern Front Range, such as Horsetooth Reservoir near Fort Collins and Carter Lake outside of Loveland.
Water from the Colorado-Big Thompson project is managed by Northern Water, the same agency building and operating NISP.
For years, the CBT system was the main way for growing cities in Larimer and Weld Counties to get water for residential development. Typically, farms have sold their portion of CBT water to cities, towns, or developers. Occasionally, they are taken to auction, where cities bid against one another for water stored in those big reservoirs.
The cost of that water skyrocketed between 2010 and 2022. Estimated prices, adjusted for inflation, went from less than $20,000 per share, to around $100,000 per share, according to data from the consulting firm Westwater research. Since 2022, that soaring rise has leveled out.
鈥淲e believe that's largely driven by a softening in the home construction sector,鈥� said Adam Jokerst, a Fort Collins-based regional director for Westwater. 鈥淎 lot of CBT purchases are by municipalities and developers who dedicate them to municipalities. And when new home construction slows, we see less demand for those shares.鈥�
How did NISP get so expensive?
Northern Water said the price to build NISP has been climbing for about 15 years. Brad Wind, the agency鈥檚 general manager, cited inflation and rising interest rates as major drivers. He doesn鈥檛, however, expect that to stop or significantly change the reservoir project.
鈥淚t's an expensive project,鈥� Wind said. 鈥淲e and the participants advancing the project like it was envisioned.鈥�
The lengthy process to get the project鈥檚 two reservoirs 鈥� Glade, and a smaller one called Galeton reservoir 鈥� from concept to construction gave time for the winds of economic change to shift direction. It鈥檚 not uncommon for a massive dam project like NISP to take more than fifteen years to attain a laundry list of environmental permits.
The project also faced opposition from local governments and nonprofits. At one point, Fort Collins voted to oppose the project. The most significant roadblock came from the environmental nonprofit Save the Poudre.
The group rallied local support and took legal action to try and stop NISP. At a 2015 event, Save the Poudre director Gary Wockner told a crowd of supporters that he would 鈥渇ight to stop the project for as long as it takes.鈥�
In late February, Wockner鈥檚 group settled for $100 million dollars. Northern Water will pay that sum into a trust over the course of the next two decades, and the money will be used to fund river improvement projects. In the intervening time, though, the price tag to build NISP likely grew significantly.
Wind said Northern plans to hire a contractor that could find ways to bring down the price by changing construction methods, but doesn鈥檛 expect 鈥渟ubstantial reductions鈥� to building costs, especially with rising prices of imported construction materials.
Over the years, the towns and water agencies that wanted to use NISP signed periodic agreements to stay part of the project. Now, time is ticking for those participants to sign a binding contract.
Eaton鈥檚 Lavanchy said that upcoming contract made his town take a harder look at their water needs, and whether those needs would be satisfied by NISP.
鈥淲e're not dating anymore,鈥� he said, 鈥淲e're getting married, and there's no way out. Divorce is not an option. So it's like, 鈥楲et's be smart and think about, what are these obligations going to run us?鈥欌��
鈥楧emand continues to increase鈥�
Even as some entities cut back on their financial ties to NISP, the project still has momentum.
For one, those towns and water agencies looking to sell their shares found a willing buyer. Eaton, Severance, Fort Lupton and the Left Hand Water District all sold their shares to the Fort Collins Loveland Water District.
The Fort Collins Loveland Water District, which serves roughly between Harmony Road and State Route 34, declined to be interviewed for this story.
Second, NISP has a total of 15 participants, and many of them are still on board for the same amount of water they signed up for years ago.
鈥淣o matter what,鈥� Severance鈥檚 Wharton said, 鈥淚n one way, you'll see those 15 probably still continue to be a part of it no matter what, because everybody does realize how precious that water is and how this will be one of the last [big reservoirs.] I don't think anybody's discouraged.鈥�
Even the towns that reduced the amount of water they鈥檒l pay to use from NISP are keeping some. Severance and Eaton said they want to make sure they鈥檙e getting water from a diverse group of sources, especially with climate change and political bickering threatening their main source of water 鈥� the Colorado River via the CBT.
Ultimately, the fast-growing region served by Northern Water 鈥� from Boulder County to Fort Collins, and east to Fort Lupton 鈥� will keep needing water for a future that will likely see plenty of new home construction.
鈥淚t doesn't appear that folks are shying away from moving to Northern Colorado,鈥� Brad Wind said. 鈥淓ither from within our state or from outside of our state, so the demand continues to increase for a high quality water supply, which NISP will produce.鈥�
This story is part of ongoing coverage of water in the West, produced by 皇冠网址 in Colorado and supported by the Walton Family Foundation. 皇冠网址 is solely responsible for its editorial coverage.
