About NPIC — North Poudre Irrigation Company

Halligan Reservoir — NPIC's primary storage facility on the North Fork of the Cache la Poudre River. Sold to the City of Fort Collins in 2004; NPIC retains its senior storage right.

Storage Reservoirs

~200 mi

Canals & Ditches

40,000

C-BT Units (largest holder)

23,000

Irrigated Acres

250,000+

People Served

600+

Stockholders

Organization

North Poudre Irrigation Company is a mutual ditch company that operates to deliver water to stockholders. All infrastructure belongs to the stockholders and is managed by company personnel on their behalf.

Approximately 600 stockholders own 10,000 shares. Municipal water entities hold 75% of shares, while agricultural users own the remaining 25%.

The company reorganized as a mutual, non-profit stock company in 1912. Instead of private investors operating for profit, customer-stockholders operate the company for their mutual benefit — the efficient and regular supply of water for their farms and municipalities.

The five-member Board of Directors is elected by stockholders, with each member serving three-year staggered terms. Twelve full-time and one part-time employees operate the company, including the general manager, office manager/corporate secretary, water accountant, and eight maintenance and construction personnel.

Location & Service Area

The reservoir and delivery system extends from Halligan Reservoir (north and west of Livermore) and the Munroe Diversion on the Cache la Poudre River mainstem, reaching east to agricultural areas near Wellington, and south to Colorado Highway 14.

Fossil Creek Reservoir, an on-stream facility, sits south of the main NPIC system east of Trilby Road in south Fort Collins. It serves as NPIC's primary exchange reservoir.

The system spans two counties — Larimer and Weld — serving over 250,000 people in northeastern Larimer County and western Weld County.

The North Poudre Irrigation System Gazetteer (25 MB) provides detailed mapping of the entire service area.

📄 Download System Map Gazetteer (25 MB PDF)

Water Rights & Supply

NPIC owns decreed water rights producing between 4–6 acre-feet per share during irrigation season. Water rights carry priority #97 on the Poudre River — a junior right balanced by an extensive reservoir storage network.

Water enters from two sources:

North Fork diversion — the original nineteenth-century source, diverted from the North Fork of the Cache la Poudre River at Halligan Reservoir
Munroe Diversion — the southern diversion on the Cache la Poudre River mainstem, beginning in 1953

NPIC holds 40,000 units of Colorado-Big Thompson (C-BT) Project water, making it the largest single C-BT unit holder. Each share of NPIC stock qualifies for 4 units of C-BT water. C-BT water is primarily used for exchange purposes, ensuring reliable delivery throughout the system.

NPIC is a major owner of C-BT water stored in Horsetooth Reservoir. C-BT water is received via the North Poudre Supply Canal (Munroe Gravity Canal), constructed by the Bureau of Reclamation in 1953.

Munroe Diversion on the Cache la Poudre River

Munroe Diversion — NPIC's southern intake on the Cache la Poudre mainstem, operational since 1953

Water Users

Over 250,000 people in northeastern Larimer County and western Weld County receive water from NPIC. Approximately 23,000 acres of agricultural land are irrigated with NPIC water.

Municipal stockholders include:

Cities: Fort Collins, Greeley
Towns: Ault, Eaton, Nunn, Pierce, Severance, Wellington, Windsor
Water districts: North Weld County, East Larimer County, Fort Collins-Loveland

As recently as the early 1970s, almost all of the company's stockholders made their living with agriculture. Development and population growth in north-central Colorado over the last 45 years has shifted the mix: today 75% of NPIC-delivered water is used by municipal water entities and 25% by people engaged in agriculture.

Infrastructure

The system includes 19 reservoirs and approximately 200 miles of delivery canals, ditches, and laterals, with approximately 1,000 individual water delivery points.

Primary reservoirs (northwest to southeast):

Halligan — head of the North Fork canyon; now owned by Fort Collins; NPIC retains senior storage right
Park Creek — built 1965–1970; storage and distribution from North Fork
Reservoir #15 — supports storage and distribution from North Fork
Reservoirs #2 and #3 — support lower-system lateral delivery
Fossil Creek — exchange and trade water storage; south Fort Collins

In 2001, much of the Buckeye Lateral — the main extension of the North Poudre Canal below Park Creek Reservoir — was placed in a pipeline to reduce transit loss and evaporation.

NPIC also operates and maintains five floodwater retention dams in the Boxelder Creek watershed under an agreement with NRCS, originally constructed 1977–1982.