If approved, the plan would supply water from the Poudre River in Larimer County 70 miles south to Thornton.
LARIMER COUNTY, Colo. — The future of a half-billion-dollar pipeline that would carry water from Fort Collins to Thornton is now in the hands of three county commissioners.
Thornton says it’s in desperate need of more water. But to get it, the city needs to build a pipeline through Larimer County.
The Poudre River fills the reservoirs in Larimer County. Seventy miles south, Todd Barnes with the City of Thornton said his city needs the water to sustain a growing population.
“Water is critical to everybody on the planet and it’s critical to this city,” Barnes said. “It’s to the point where we don’t have certainty on our water supply.”
The Thornton Water pipeline would pump water the city owns the rights to in Larimer County down to Adams County. 85% of the 70-mile project is either completed, under construction or in design. The remaining 15% is in Larimer County.
“We need the first 10.4 miles permitted so that we can build the water pipeline and get it to connect in Weld County,” Barnes said. “We need the final connection. We’ve done a very purposeful effort to listen to the community up there, to listen to what their concerns are.”
Thornton is Colorado’s sixth-largest city and is growing quickly. The city said without more water, it can’t build more housing, which in turn raises the price of a home for everyone.
On Wednesday, Larimer County Commissioners are expected to vote on whether to allow the pipeline to move forward. There is a chance that commissioners choose to delay the vote beyond this week.
The Larimer County Commission already denied plans for the Thornton Water Project to cross into Larimer County in 2019. Commissioners declined to approve a different plan back then over environmental concerns, questions of land rights, and public feedback about the lasting impacts.
Thornton sued Larimer County after commissioners denied the pipeline in 2019. They lost, but a court of appeals ruled in 2022 that the county can’t force Thornton to keep the water it owns the rights to in the river.
The new plan for the pipeline follows a different path, only crossing through 10.4 miles of Larimer County instead of 27 miles. It still hasn’t won everyone over, with people at the commission meeting asking to prioritize concerns for the river’s health.
“We’ve been at this for 10 years dealing with Thornton and their pipelines, trying to advocate for the Poudre River option,” said Gary Walker with Save the Poudre.
Public comment at Larimer County Commission meetings on this topic in late April and early May continued for hours.
“If you have to vote on this, we of course ask that you deny this project, but what we’re really asking for is a pause and time out so that the community’s questions and concerns can be heard,” Walker told commissioners.
Others speaking at the commission meeting urged commissioners that the future of development in Thornton relies on the ability to provide water to people wanting to live there.
“It’s imperative that they are granted access to the water rights so that the residential construction industry can begin building out of the current crisis we find ourselves in,” said Morgan Cullen with the Homebuilders Association of Metro Denver.
Three commissioners will now decide whether the final link connecting the water to Thornton can move forward.
“You have to find a way to respect everybody’s rights in something like this,” Barnes said. “If we want to continue to grow and provide people with the healthiest drinking water we can, this is the only way we’ve got on the books to do it now.”
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