Greeley's Water History

History, Legacy, Foresight, Quality

In 1886, the early settlers of Greeley constructed their first water system, a series of infiltration wells in the City. The well water quality diminished as nutrients from surrounding farms flowed into the wells. The water continued to degrade until 1900 when the citizens decided to look for a new source.

In 1904, the City bought a farm at the Poudre River's mouth, Bellvue, 35 miles northwest of Greeley. The farm contained a very senior water right. Greeley combined this right with another senior water right and established a water supply that would satisfy the City for the next 40 years. The two rights still form the base of Greeley’s water system.

In 1907, Greeley finished construction of its Bellvue Treatment Facility, consisting of 2.5 acres of slow sand filters and 36 miles of wooden pipe from Bellvue to Greeley.

In 1939, Greeley was one of the first municipalities to participate in the Colorado-Big Thompson Project. The C-BT Project, constructed from 1938 to 1957 is the largest transbasin delivery project in Colorado and provides a supplemental water supply. It delivers water from the headwaters of the Colorado River near Granby via the Adams Tunnel into Mary's Lake in Estes Park. From there it is released into the Big Thompson River. The C-BT Project's extensive distribution system allows for deliveries of water from Broomfield to Fort Collins and acts as a supplemental water supply.

In 1945, Greeley finished construction of Milton Seaman Reservoir on the north fork of the Poudre River upstream of the Bellvue Treatment Plant. The reservoir captured spring runoff and released it later in the summer when demand exceeded the two senior direct flow rights.

In 1947, the City purchased five mountain reservoirs in the Poudre River Basin from the Mountains and Plains Irrigation Company. The five reservoirs are scattered in the upper reaches of the Poudre Basin.

In 1961, Greeley began accepting shares of the Greeley-Loveland Irrigation System, comprised of three interrelated companies: Greeley Loveland Irrigation Company (Boyd Lake), Loveland and Greeley Reservoir Company (Lake Loveland), and Seven Lakes Reservoir Company (Horseshoe Reservoir). The Greeley Loveland Irrigation System supplies are treated by the City at the Boyd Lake Water Treatment Plant and are a peaking source for the City from April to October.

From 1969 to 1987, Greeley and six other Front Range municipalities jointly developed the Windy Gap Project. This project is a transbasin diversion project that delivers water from the Colorado River to the East Slope, using the C-BT system. Windy Gap supplies are wholly consumable, allowing Greeley to reuse effluent from Windy Gap water.

In the early 1990s, Greeley purchased a large number of shares in the Greeley Loveland Irrigation System to protect its future supplies.

In 2006, the City purchased shares in the Windsor Reservoir and Canal Company tot give the City the rights to a portion of the Tunnel Water Company's yield.

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Water Resource Timeline

With an annual rainfall of about 12 inches, Greeley's history is bound to the development of water supply systems.

Pre 1830's
The confluence of the Cache la Poudre and South Platte Rivers was inhabited by nomadic Indian tribes, mainly the Arapahoe and Cheyenne. They utilized native plants and animals to survive and did not change the natural flow of the river.

1830-1850
During the 1830's, fur trappers arrived. By 1850, miners also settled here, living in crude cabins along the river.

1860
The Yeager was the first ditch built on the Poudre River. Located above Fort Collins it diverted water to irrigate hay fields in the river's flood plains.

1861-1866
With shovels and sweat, farmers etched irrigation ditches into the landscape. In 1861, the Watrous, Whedbee, Second and Dry Ditches were dug. In 1866, the Boyd/Freeman Pioneer Ditch was built near Greeley, named after Robert Boyd.

1869
Nathan Meeker, agricultural editor of the New York Tribune visited Colorado and told Horace Greeley, editor of the Tribune, of his idea to start a colony there. The Tribune announced that a parcel of land in the new colony could be purchased for a $150 membership fee.

1870-1872
B.H. Eaton's promise of assistance with the ditch construction hastened the arrival of Meeker and the Union Colonists. In 1872, the banks of Ditch No. 2-- 35 miles long and irrigating 2,000 acres--failed to hold. At the time David Boyd said, “this loss of crops by the most enterprising and courageous of colonists- men of moderate means- came near to paralyzing the whole enterprise.” After this experience, they immediately realized the necessity of competent water engineers. Over the next few years, the canal would be enlarged three times and the river dammed, at a total cost of $87,000.

1874
Colonist farmers defended their rights to water. When those upstream broke their promises and used more than their share, threats of violence arose. Luckily, heavy rainfall cooled tempers.

1876
The State adopted the Doctrine of Prior Appropriation as part of the its constitution.

1878
The Legislator divided the State into water districts and selects water commissioners for each one. David Boyd became the first commissioner to represent Greeley.

1879
Eaton Ditch was completed. David Boyd, who had criticized early engineers, said that now the “true way” of canal building had been learned.

1890
The first trans-mountain diversions, Sky Line, Michigan and Grand River Ditches were constructed to bring water to the Poudre Basin from the western slope.

1895
By the 1890s, so many canals and ditches drained water from the rivers that little was left. Reservoirs were needed to store the water and allow the towns and irrigators to have a more reliable supply. Some of the largest in the state were built in northern Colorado. The 30-foot deep Terry Reservoir cost $90,000 to build.

1905
Boyd Lake was first used for water storage.

1907
Until this time, Greeley residents relied on infiltration wells built into the gravel bed of the river, a short distance from the center of town, to provide water to their homes. The water they received was of “exceptionally poor quality” and strictly limited during dry seasons. The original Municipal Gravity Water System was completed in 1907. Thirty-six miles of 20-inch diameter wooden pipeline stretched past irrigated lands near the foothills to bring Poudre River water to the City of Greeley. Also built: a sedimentation basin and two 1.25-acre slow-sand filtration basins. The total cost was $361,679.

1921
The Barnes Meadow Reservoir was built, providing 5.5 million gallons of storage.

1927-1937
The collapse of agricultural markets accompanied a severe drought. By 1933, erosion was visible and billowing clouds of airborne topsoil became part of the “Dust Bowl” that stretched from the Dakotas to Texas. The Depression was nationwide and the northern Colorado farmers were some of the hardest hit. After being denied water from the North Platte River in a 1933 Supreme Court decision, they looked to the “Last Water Hole in the West”, the Colorado River, to alleviate their thirst. They needed water and they needed jobs. In 1937, President Roosevelt appropriated $900,000 to begin the construction on an immense public works undertaking, the Colorado-Big Thompson Project --originally the Grand Lake Project--that would take 19 years to complete. It would deliver 13.4 million gallons of water per day to Eastern Slope communities. The project financed the building of the construction of the 13.1 mile-long Alva B. Adams Tunnel, 10 reservoirs, 13 dams, six power plants, three pumping plants and numerous canals and waterways. The final cost of the internationally acclaimed project would be $164 million.The Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District was organized to oversee the project.

1940
The City of Greeley built the Seaman Dam and Reservoir.


1944
Crews working from east and west holed through the Continental Divide Tunnel, now know as the Alva B. Adams Tunnel. NBC Radio broadcast the event live nationally.

1947
The City of Greeley purchased high mountain reservoirs consisting of 11 water supply structures in the Poudre Basin, providing 561,000 gallons of water. Also that year, the first water passed through the Adams Tunnel. It takes water 2 ½ to 3 hours to travel to the Eastern Slope.

1953-1957
Crop yields were close to normal despite a severe drought. The Colorado-Big Thompson Project finished in 1957.

1969
Greeley completed the construction of Boyd Lake Water Treatment Plant, allowing the City to use Big Thompson River water diverted by the Greeley-Loveland Irrigation Company.

1950-1970
The population of Greeley increased from 20,354 to 48,902, fueling a demand for water.

1972
Congress passed the Clean Water Act in an effort to clean up the nation's waterways.

1976
Greeley and Northern Colorado experienced a pair of disasters: first a drought, then a flash flood on the Big Thompson River that killed 145 people.

1985
Completion of the Windy-Gap Project, a diversion dam, pumping plant and pipeline to Lake Granby supplied an additional 15.6 billion gallons of water to C-BT facilities.

1991
Greeley obtained 3.2 billion gallons of water supplies and supported local agriculture by buying water from local farmers, then renting it back to them for 20 years.

1995
The Greeley Water and Sewer Board adopted a water conservation implementation plan in order to address Greeley's growing water needs as the population exceeded 60,000.

1999
Greeley started to develop a Master Plan for the next 20-50 years.

2000-2003
Greeley was the nation's fastest-growing metro area between April 1, 2000 and July 1, 2003 according to "Population Change in Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas: 1990-2003," a report by the U. S. Census Bureau. The Census Bureau reported growth in the Greeley metro area at 16.8 percent between 2000 and 2003. The population of Greeley was to 84,519 in 2003.


2002
The drought of 2000-2004 was more severe than anyone expected. According to tree ring studies, 2002 was the worst single year in the last 300 years. This year also recorded extremely low statewide snowpack and streamflows. This effect was intensified by little annual precipitation (12-14 inches average vs. 8.4 inches in 2002) and very high temperatures. The third hottest July in history was in 2002. It was the first time in 50 years that Greeley had to draw from storage.

2003
The City of Greeley Water Master Plan was completed.

2005
The year 2005 marked the 100th anniversary of Greeley's vote to go to the mountains for high quality drinking water. In 1905, the 5,000 or so citizens voted to bond themselves for what today would be the equivalent to $20 million dollars. They used the money to build a filter plant at the mouth of the Poudre Canyon and 36-miles of wooden pipeline across the prairie to Greeley. The finished water reservoirs at the end of that pipeline were two miles southwest of Greeley, where the Centennial Park Pool is today.

2006
The City purchased shares in the Windsor Reservoir and Canal Company giving the City the rights to a portion of the water diverted from the Laramie River by the Tunnel Water Company.

2007
The City of Greeley celebrated the 100 anniversary of the treated water system. Events and tours helped mark the milestone.