Great Plains Region – Eastern Colorado Area Office

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Eastern Colorado Area Office Overview

What's New at ECAO?

It has been a busy year across the ECAO.

The Big Thompson Power Plant was brought back on-line in July. It had been damaged during the Colorado Floods last September. Although, the majority of the Colorado-Big Thompson project facilities were restored to service within weeks after the flooding, the two at the Mouth of the Big Thompson Canyon have taken a little longer. The Dille Diversion Dam is expected to return to service next year.

The 2013-2014 winter season delivered a healthy snowpack. This combined with a rather rainy season left all C-BT reservoirs full – somewhat unusual for the end of the water season.

Similarly, early projections that the Fryingpan-Arkansas would import around 60,000 acre-feet of water were surpassed. Actual imports by the end of August were closer to 80,000 acre-feet. Average annual diversions for the Fry-Ark Project over the last twenty years have been closer to 52,000 acre-feet.

Water Operations

Facilities across the ECAO are in winter operations.

On the C-BT, Pinewood Reservoir water levels continue to fluctuate with power generation at the Flatiron Power Plant. End-of-the-year maintenance across the East Slope of the C-BT has completed and both reservoirs have returned to normal operations.

Olympus Dam on Lake Estes has returned to typical operations after a very active year. On Monday, September 15, the radial gates, the gates that send water over the concrete spillways, were closed for the year. In mid-November, seasonal adjustments per our agreement with the Colorado Division of Parks and Wildlife were made that put the dam into "winter operations." Olympus continues to pass 25 cfs through its river gate, moving Big Thompson River water on through the structure down the Big Thompson Canyon. C-BT Project water continues to be diverted by the dam through Olympus Tunnel for power generation and delivery to water customers elsewhere on the project.

Releases from Green Mountain Reservoir to the Lower Blue River in Summit County have settled into a winter pattern. Releases to the Lower Blue River will likely remain between 200-300 cfs into the New Year. To receive regular information updates on Green Mountain Reservoir, please follow it on Facebook.

Granby Reservoir and Willow Creek reservoir have both filled and spilled. Both still have full or close-to-full storage.

On the Fry-Ark Project, Twin Lakes and Turquoise reservoirs are basically full. This fall and winter, Twin Lakes Dam underwent some maintenance work. As a result, releases from Twin Lakes to Lake Creek fluctuated. Releases from Sugarloaf Dam on Turquoise Reservoir to Lake Fork Creek were adjusted to help balance out river flows to the Arkansas River, which were temporarily curtailed during work at Twin Lakes.

To learn more about Ruedi, Pueblo, Horsetooth and Carter reservoirs, please visit their web pages on this site or follow them on Facebook at Horsetooth Reservoir, Pueblo Reservoir, and Ruedi Reservoir.

If you are interested in receiving information on any of these reservoirs directly via e-mail, please contact Signe Snortland.

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Other Water Links

• Water Ops: Reclamation water levels in Colorado.
• USGS WaterWatch: real time stream flow data around Colorado
• Colorado Division of Water Resources: Colorado's Surface Water Conditions
• Mountain Buzz: A quick link to Colorado stream flows courtesy of American Whitewater