NPIC North Poudre Irrigation Company
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📈 Water Analytics

Season outlook, storage, diversion analysis — May 12, 2026

🖶 Print / Board Report
🟦
2026 Season Outlook Dry water year — C-BT quota 50%, snowpack at 14% of median. 2026 season allocation estimated at ~2 AF/share.
Est. Allocation ~1–2 AF/share
Poudre Priority Risk Ample flow (273.0 CFS) — senior priority calls unlikely NPIC priority #97 — Cache la Poudre at Fort Collins (USGS 06752260)

Key Metrics

📅 Pre-delivery season — All diverted water goes to reservoir storage until June 1. No end-user deliveries until then.
🇮🇸 System Storage
36,191 AF
of 64,626 AF capacity
56% full
~526 days to full at current inflow
🐥 Diversion Rate
145.7 CFS
= 289.0 AF/day to reservoir storage
N. Poudre Canal 55.3 CFS (39% of max)
Munroe Canal 90.4 CFS
❄ Snowpack
14%
of 30-year median SWE (avg both stations)
Deadman Hill 15%  (2.9")
Joe Wright 12%  (2.7")
🚴 C-BT Exchange
20,000 AF
40,000 units × 50% quota
Horsetooth 140,616 AF (95.0%)
Carter Lake 100,833 AF (90.0%)

Live Inflow & Fill Projections

🏠 Halligan Reservoir
+27.2 CFS
= +54.0 AF/day filling
N Fork above (natural inflow) 28.0 CFS
N Fork below (dam releases) 0.8 CFS
Days to full† ~31 days
🌿 Joe Wright Creek
5.0 CFS
= 9.9 AF/day tributary inflow

Below Joe Wright Reservoir (USGS 06746110). Contributes to N Fork and ultimately Halligan inflow.

🌿 ET Demand (23,000 acres)
318.9 AF/day
estimated district irrigation demand today
Ref. ET (avg) 0.238" /day
Crop ET (Kc=0.7) 0.166" /day
Precip offset −0.000" /day
Net demand 318.9 AF/day
2025 peak (Jun–Sep) ~283 AF/day avg

CoAgMet FAO-56 ET, 3 stations. Delivery season starts June 1 — current demand is background ET only.

† Projection uses estimated 50% storage for Halligan (no telemetry) — enter actual reading under Admin → Reservoirs to improve accuracy.

Water Orders & Demand Schedule

📅 No deliveries until June 1. Orders placed now will be scheduled starting June 1 when canal deliveries begin.
📌 Committed This Season
0.0 AF
in pending / approved / active orders

No active orders this week

📅 4-Week Demand Schedule
WeekAF ScheduledOrders
Wk 1 (May 12) 0.0 0
Wk 2 (May 19) 0.0 0
Wk 3 (May 26) 0.0 0
Wk 4 (Jun 02) 0.0 0

Season-to-Date Diversions

Historical data not yet seeded. Season-to-date tracking is populated automatically each night from CDSS. First run happens on app startup — data should appear within a few minutes. Admin users can also trigger an immediate seed from the Admin Dashboard.

NPIC Reservoir Storage Detail

ReservoirCapacity (AF)Storage (AF)Fill %As of
Fossil Creek Reservoir 11,740 7,754
66%
2026-05-02
Park Creek Reservoir 10,393 2,808
27%
2026-05-10
North Poudre Reservoir #6 9,968 6,774
68%
2026-05-02
North Poudre Reservoir #5 6,707 4,620
69%
2026-05-02
Halligan Reservoir 6,440 4,754
74%
2026-05-10
North Poudre Reservoir #15 5,579 342
6%
2026-05-10
North Poudre Reservoir #2 3,854 2,901
75%
2026-05-02
North Poudre Reservoir #3 3,227 2,125
66%
2026-05-02
Miners Lake 1,985 385
19%
2026-05-10
Indian Creek Reservoir 1,909 1,586
83%
2026-05-02
North Poudre Reservoir #4 1,563 1,151
74%
2026-05-02
Upper Clark Lake 963 800
83%
2026-05-02
Smith Lake 298 192
64%
2026-05-02
System Total 64,626 ~36,191 56%

📈 Historical Context

C-BT quota history and estimated gross yield per share — sourced from Northern Water and CDSS diversion records.

📢 2026 C-BT Quota — Declared April 9, 2026

Northern Water formally declared the 2026 C-BT quota at 80%, up from the November initial of 50%. This is in line with the 2021–2024 average; last year came in slightly lower at 75%.

NPIC C-BT units 40,000 units ÷ 10,000 shares = 4 units / share
At 80% quota 3.2 AF / share from C-BT water alone
Total NPIC C-BT yield 32,000 AF system-wide at 80%

C-BT water is used for exchange — NPIC releases C-BT units to Horsetooth/Carter in exchange for direct deliveries from the North Fork. Total season allocation adds direct N Fork diversions and reservoir releases on top of C-BT exchange, typically yielding 4–6 AF/share in a normal year.

🌧
Wet Years 2023 brought exceptional snowpack (150–200% of median statewide), major Poudre spring flooding, and the best system diversion in a decade — 70,269 AF into NPIC canals.
☀
Dry Years 2021–2022 brought persistent drought and the first-ever Colorado River Tier 1 & 2 shortage declarations (Lake Powell). NPIC relied on reservoir carryover. 2025 saw below-median snowpack with Green Mountain Reservoir ending the year at ~37% — weakening the west-slope C-BT supply.
⚠
Worst Case on Record — 2002 The worst drought in modern Colorado records. NPIC allocation dropped to 0.25 AF/share (vs. normal 4–6 AF). Agricultural rental water hit $80/AF; M&I water reached $400/AF. The entire Front Range went on emergency conservation. This is the floor used in NPIC supply modeling.
Year Conditions C-BT Quota C-BT AF / Share† Gross Diverted‡ Gross AF / Share Net AF / Share (~40% loss)
2021Dry80%3.2 64,6216.463.88
2022Dry80%3.2 60,3886.043.62
2023Wet80%3.2 70,2697.034.22
2024Normal80%3.2 66,3156.633.98
2025Dry75%3.0 62,395 *6.24 *3.74 *
2026Normal80% ◀3.2 ~64,800 est.~6.48 est.~3.89 est.

† NPIC: 40,000 C-BT units ÷ 10,000 shares = 4 units/share × quota% = C-BT AF/share (C-BT exchange only).  ‡ N Poudre Canal (WDID 0300994) + Munroe Diversion (WDID 0300905) combined gross intake. Net AF/share = gross × 60% after ~40% system-wide conveyance losses; actual announced allocations confirmed with NPIC staff. East-slope carryover (Horsetooth, Carter) buffered 2021–2022 C-BT quota despite Colorado River drought.  * 2025 provisional.