Colorado Springs Utilities outlines plan to enlarge Montgomery Reservoir; says no new water rights needed

Colorado Springs Utilities officials presented the Continental/Hoosier System project and said they plan to enlarge Montgomery Reservoir by approximately 8,100 acre-feet to increase system resiliency and carry additional average annual supply over coming decades. "By enlarging Montgomery Reservoir by approximately 8,100 acre-feet," said Maria Pastore, water-resource planner and project technical lead for Colorado Springs Utilities, "we will improve resiliency, redundancy, and efficiency of the current system."

Pastore described the CHS as Colorado Springs Utilities' first trans-mountain diversion from the Upper Blue River watershed through the Hoosier Tunnel and then 70 miles of gravity-fed pipeline to Colorado Springs. She told the council that the enlargement would allow the utility to carry another average annual 4,000 acre-feet by 2050 and that the work will be construction in Park County only; she emphasized that "no new water rights are needed" and that the project will rely on operational changes and existing volumetric limits. Staff said federal, state and local permits (including Summit and Park County 1041 reviews and NEPA-related federal approvals) remain to be secured and that permitting decisions are anticipated by 2028, with construction to follow.

Council members asked specifically whether the proposal would affect Breckenridge's water rights or local recreational river flows. CSU representatives and town staff replied that the utility's analyses did not identify impacts to Breckenridge water rights and that they are planning bypass flows and other operational limits to meet environmental assessment requirements. "We are planning on bypass flows," Pastore said, and noted volumetric limits and the Blue River settlement agreements that adjust how conditional storage rights are managed. The presentation and follow-up discussion emphasized that some streamflow reductions are possible in wet years under modeled scenarios and that the permitting process will disclose environmental impacts and mitigation measures.