Thornton will be able to build a critical segment of a 70-mile pipe to bring water from the Cache la Poudre River to the fast-growing suburb north of Denver, after elected leaders in Larimer County unanimously — if begrudgingly — approved a permit for the northern segment of the pipe on Wednesday night.
Colorado’s sixth-largest city, with a population of nearly 160,000, has been claiming for years that without access to Poudre water shares it has owned for decades, long-planned residential growth in the city is jeopardized — including affordable housing.
But a procession of county residents has spoken out against the proposed project at a series of public hearings held over the past couple of weeks, insisting that Thornton simply could allow its shares in the Poudre River — equaling 14,700 acre-feet a year — to flow through Fort Collins before taking the water out for municipal use.
Doing so, they say, would increase flows and improve the river’s health.
But just hours before Wednesday’s meeting, one of the opposition groups to the project — No Pipe Dream — said it sensed momentum had turned the city’s way, issuing a public statement that said “we’ll skip the torture of tonight’s hearing on our ‘good neighbor’ Thornton’s plans to win the water tap lottery and appease hungry developers.”
Before casting her yes vote Wednesday, Larimer County Commissioner Kristin Stephens said she wished Thornton would send its water down the Poudre “because that’s what the community wants.”
“We can’t do that,” she said, referring to a 2022 Court of Appeals decision that ruled that Larimer County cannot force Thornton to use the river as a conveyance.
“Thornton’s pipeline is the best of what feels like a bad solution,” she said.
Commissioner Jody Shadduck-McNally also said she wanted to keep the water in the Poudre “for as long as possible,” but noted that Thornton had satisfied the county’s land use criteria and state water law with its pipeline. John Kefalas, the only commissioner who was in office the last time Thornton brought its proposal to the county in early 2019, became emotional before casting an affirmative vote.
“Frankly, I have anguished over my decision,” he said.
The fight over Thornton’s water pipe has been going on for years, and a denial of a permit for the project by Larimer County’s commissioners more than five years ago set off a flurry of unsuccessful court challenges that ultimately prompted the city this year to resubmit its application — this time with a different route and 17 fewer miles of pipe within the county’s boundaries.
The city also relocated a pump house from the original plan to a site that is not near any houses, and it agreed to 83 county land use conditions to move the project forward.
Even so, dozens of Larimer County residents have shared their thoughts on the proposed project, with the vast majority opposing it as disruptive to property owners along the pipe alignment and a lost opportunity to enhance the health of a river that one local claimed was “overly appropriated.”
Bobbi Norman, a Larimer County resident, said during a public comment period this week that Thornton could best exemplify its desire to be a good neighbor by leaving the water in the river.
“Thornton taking its water down the Poudre river — that’s what makes a neighbor into a hero,” she said.
But Thornton repeatedly has countered that because the city already diverts the water it owns — into reservoirs and onto farmland in Larimer and Weld counties, much of which the city itself owns — putting it into a pipe will have no negative effect on Poudre flows.
“No new diversions are planned as part of this project,” Carolynne White, an attorney representing Thornton in the dispute, said at a hearing Monday. “Thornton’s project avoids impacts to the Poudre River. We can’t be expected to mitigate impacts that we’re not causing.”
The city insists on moving its water by pipe rather than via river so it can maintain the quality of the water it’s conveying by not running it through Fort Collins and past several wastewater treatment plants.
Attempts by cities to access water a substantial distance away is not uncommon in Colorado, where pipe networks crisscross the Continental Divide to bring water to the Front Range. Just last month, Aurora paid $80 million for a 5,475-acre farm and its water rights in Otero County, in a move meant to meet needs associated with a projected population growth of 40% over the next two decades.
As in Larimer County, the purchase ran crosswise with leaders in southeastern Colorado, who say the deal violates a 2-decade-old agreement to stop the booming suburban city from using water meant for crops.
Thornton too has argued that without the Poudre shares it has owned for decades, long-envisioned home construction — critical for a state facing a severe housing shortage — simply could evaporate for lack of water.
Wednesday’s decision puts to rest Thornton’s years-long effort to pipe its water the full distance, from a point on the Poudre northwest of Fort Collins past Interstate 25 and then south to Thornton. The $500 million project has gotten approvals for pipe segments traversing Weld and Adams counties, with about 10% of the project having been built and buried as of late last year.
Barring any major construction delays, Thornton could start sending its water down the pipe by late 2027 or early 2028.