Lake County water manager warns snowpack lags, outlines limits for golf course and storage repairs

Bryce Ulrich, Lake CountyWater Enterprise Program Manager, told the countyboard at a Jan. 27 work session that the Upper Arkansas snowpack is well below recent dry-year baselines and that the county must prepare for a drier-than-normal 2026.

"Even if it starts snowing a ton, we're not in a position where we can get into a median snowpack by any means," Ulrich said, noting the basin sits below the 2012 water year baseline.

Ulrich said the county has drafted changes to its intergovernmental agreement with Aurora and hired new water counsel on Jan. 1; staff received draft IGA language "just yesterday evening" and will review it before negotiations with Aurora's lawyers. He called completing the IGA before building season a priority so the water enterprise can be a tool during peak construction demand.

The presentation focused on how limited firm yield and storage constrain operations. Ulrich identified Mount Massive Golf Course as the single largest historical user tied to the enterprise and proposed allocating 25 acre-feet of Aurora firm water to the course this season — "about three quarters of their need," he said — with both monthly and seasonal pumping limits if the county cannot rely on additional sources such as Dairy Ditch No. 3.

Ulrich said the course was charged $22,950 last year and that a market-rate leasing approach (he cited Pueblopricing) would bring that figure to about $29,750, an increase of roughly $7,000; he described a plan to "stair-step" rates toward market while aiming to keep the course financially viable.

To reduce irrigation demand on augmentation water, Ulrich outlined possible new supplies tied to older water-right decrees. He described a 1988 water-court decree linked to part of the Moyer Ranch and said Parkville holds an irrigation flume that could be relocated and connected through Empire Gulch to the Delap Ditch to supply the golf course. Ulrich said anticipated infrastructure needs include flume relocation, telemetry (he estimated roughly $5,000) to measure diversions, and public-works labor; civil-engineering cost estimates are expected soon.

Restoring Delap Ditch is time-sensitive: Ulrich warned the ditch right has previously appeared on the state's abandonment list and must be used or rehabilitated or the county risks losing the right. He said rehabilitation work could occur in the late fall once stream flows drop.

Hayden Meadows, the county's decreed storage vessel, is currently unusable for banked storage because the county cannot measure inflow and outflow. Ulrich blamed two problems: clogging in a waste gate that passes under railroad tracks and repeated beaver activity in the ditch system. "The clog is a bigger deal," he said, and added the county needs railroad access (he cited outreach to Union Pacific/Eden Pacific contacts) and coordination with Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) for beaver relocation.

Making Hayden operational could yield material benefits: Ulrich said Aurora would pay evaporative losses for water it stores and that the county currently pays about 17 acre-feet of loss each year out of a 40-acre-foot allocation; even partial storage by Aurora would return a portion of that volume to the firm yield over time.

Ulrich also reviewed the Barn Pond / Barrier Creek system. He said the series of ponds provides community and fire-suppression benefits but is subject to high groundwater and transit losses (he cited about three acre-feet per year) and would require an augmentation plan. He proposed a funding model in which the Friends of Barrier Creek would contract for a perpetual lease of a baseline Pueblo lease while the county runs augmentation and operations, but he warned any permanent legal solution will require returning to water court and likely face opposition.

On finance and rollout, Ulrich described the enterprise model: selling augmentation allocations tied to land-use approvals, charging a one-time inclusion fee (he cited $9,000 per inclusion as the example used in the discussion) and an annual operations-and-maintenance fee (about $700/year), and capping initial sales (he said annual sales might be kept under 30 during early years). He framed those revenues as the way to fund startup costs, infrastructure and the enterprise's long-term O&M.

Ulrich recommended bundling several storage and supply projects into a single, comprehensive water-court application to capture multiple benefits and to make grant requests for preliminary engineering more competitive. He asked for staff direction rather than a formal motion; board members in the session indicated support for his approach and for discussions with the golf course and partners.

Next steps Ulrich identified included staff review of the draft IGA and direct negotiations with Aurora's counsel, civil-engineering cost estimates for Delap Ditch rehabilitation, a scheduled meeting with Mount Massive Golf Course the following day, and continuing outreach to railroad and CPW contacts to clear Hayden's measurement obstacles with a goal of having Hayden ready to operate by spring 2027 if possible.

The work session ended with the chair adjourning the meeting at 11:52 a.m.