Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Water Supply Master Plan topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Severance hears water‑supply master plan that identifies 300 acre‑foot target and three acquisition paths
Summary
Consultant Cassidy of Westwater Research told Severance council the town likely needs about 300 acre‑feet of additional supply by 2055 under dry‑year scenarios and outlined three feasible alternatives — Northern Integrated Supply Project (NISP), ditch company/CBT purchases, and non‑tributary groundwater (VIDA) — while recommending the town secure conveyance capacity and monitor options through 2026.
Cassidy, a senior associate at Westwater Research, told the Severance Town Council on Nov. 11 that the town’s draft water supply master plan projects total demand in 2055 between about 715 and 1,300 acre‑feet and identifies a planning target of roughly 300 acre‑feet to cover a dry‑year shortfall.
That target follows a demand analysis and a financial assessment that showed Severance’s current portfolio (Colorado‑Big‑Thompson units and North Poudre shares) meets most average‑year needs but could face a gap beginning about 2039 in dry years. "In an average year, the town's portfolio yields about 1,100 acre‑feet," Cassidy said, noting that projected shortages in dry scenarios informed the 300‑acre‑foot planning goal.
The presentation evaluated a long list of potential supplies and narrowed them to three primary alternatives: participation in the Northern Integrated Supply Project (NISP), acquiring ditch company shares or Colorado‑Big‑Thompson (CBT) units, and buying non‑tributary groundwater via the Front Range H2O VIDA project. Each option carries different costs, timing constraints and risks. Cassidy said NISP currently faces schedule and participation uncertainty; ditch and CBT shares are more flexible but limited by availability and market price; and VIDA could deliver treated water as soon as 2029 but creates issues with the town’s current treatment limits under its operating agreement with North Weld County Water District.
A key operational concern the consultant flagged is treatment capacity. Under Severance’s current operating agreement North Weld will only treat on the order of "6 to 700 acre‑feet," Cassidy said, leaving roughly 400 acre‑feet of the town’s existing portfolio potentially "stranded" if the town pursues treated third‑party supplies without building additional treatment capacity. That dynamic means some alternatives would require additional investments (for example, in the Cob Lake treatment authority or new pipelines) or different acquisition volumes to avoid stranded assets.
On finance, Cassidy said the town’s water fund has bonding capacity and that the financial model treated affordability first. "All three alternatives are affordable," she said within the scenarios modeled, "although they all require the town to pull on some cash reserves from its water fund in order to make that happen." She also highlighted that pursuing large purchases like NISP or VIDA would typically require a cash‑in‑lieu policy so future development pays for growth‑related capacity rather than current ratepayers.
Council members asked about timelines, contingencies for stranded supply, and the risk of concentrating on CBT or NISP. Mayor Friess encouraged public engagement and emphasized decisions will come later: "This presentation is informational — decisions will be made at a later date," he said. Staff and consultants proposed a January work session for a deeper dive and recommended the town prioritize conveyance (pipeline) capacity while watching NISP, Clearwater/Cobb Lake and VIDA developments through 2026.
The presentation left the council with a clear near‑term action: schedule follow‑up technical review and public outreach before formal commitments to any single alternative. Cassidy said she will submit technical memoranda as appendices and return for the January work session to answer detailed questions.
