Hi Friends of the Poudre River! What an adventure this has been! To keep the most amazing river in Colorado alive, beautiful, and flowing through Fort Collins, we started Save The Poudre in 2004. Next year, 2024, will be our 20th year. Throughout that time, we've gotten quite an education in water, politics, money, and power in the state of Colorado. We started Save The Poudre in 2004 to fight the massive proposed dam, the "Northern Integrated Supply Project" (NISP). As the director of Save The Poudre, I've had some crazy experiences fighting this massive dam project. I've been called into the offices of U.S. Senators, Governors, Members of Congress, State Senators and State Representatives, County Commissioners, and City Councilmembers, all of whom has asked me to "compromise" and let NISP be built. I've had rich and powerful people ask me to compromise. In public meetings, in the newspaper, and in person, I've been called just about every name in the book, from "radical" to "eco-terrorist." My response has always been the same -- the Poudre River is already severely compromised and NISP would make it worse by damming and draining the river, turning it into a muddy stinking ditch through Fort Collins. There's nothing "radical" about trying to keep a river alive. In fact, saving a river is a sane, reasonable, sustainable response to the chaos in the world around us. For 20 years, we have not blinked. For 20 years, not one ounce of river-destruction concrete has been poured into the Poudre River. For 20 years, NISP has not been built. TWENTY YEARS! In 2004 when we started fighting NISP, the project was estimated to cost $146.9 million; now it's estimated to cost $2.25 BILLION. We are fighting the POWER and MONEY and THE POLITICAL MACHINE in northern Colorado and all the craziness that goes along with it. And it is solely your support that keeps our organization alive and moving forward. It is solely your support that keeps us focusing on the health of the Poudre River. It is solely your support that keeps us not blinking. We are simply trying to keep this amazing river alive -- for you, for future generations of people, and for all of the non-human critters that depend on the Poudre River for survival. In early 2024, we will have a BIG ANNOUNCEMENT. Rest assured, it is SOLELY YOUR SUPPORT that will make this announcement possible. Please help us Save The Poudre and race into our 20th year by making a generous, tax-deductible, year-end donation today. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT! You can donate online by clicking here. -- Gary Wockner
Poudre River Update: The Cost of NISP
Hi Friends of the Poudre River,
On January 12, 2023, we sent a Colorado Open Records Act request to Northern Water to find out the cost of NISP. Northern responded on January 17, 2023. NISP had ballooned to $2.25 billion according to the spreadsheet Northern Water sent us.
See the spreadsheet by clicking here.
We then calculated the cost per participant, below:
Participant Acre Feet %of Project Total Cost
Central Weld Co. W.D. | 3,500 | 8.75% | $ 196,866,337.50 |
Dacono | 1,250 | 3.13% | $ 70,309,406.25 |
Eaton | 1,300 | 3.25% | $ 73,121,782.50 |
Erie | 6,500 | 16.25% | $ 365,608,912.50 |
Evans | 1,200 | 3.00% | $ 67,497,030.00 |
Firestone | 1,300 | 3.25% | $ 73,121,782.50 |
Fort Collins-Loveland. W.D. | 3,400 | 8.50% | $ 191,241,585.00 |
Fort Lupton | 2,050 | 5.13% | $ 115,307,426.25 |
Fort Morgan | 3,600 | 9.00% | $ 202,491,090.00 |
Frederick | 2,600 | 6.50% | $ 146,243,565.00 |
Lafayette | 1,800 | 4.50% | $ 101,245,545.00 |
Lefthand W.D. | 4,900 | 12.25% | $ 275,612,872.50 |
Morgan County Q.W.D. | 1,300 | 3.25% | $ 73,121,782.50 |
Severance | 2,000 | 5.00% | $ 112,495,050.00 |
Windsor | 3,300 | 8.25% | $ 185,616,832.50 |
Total | 40,000 | 100.00% | $ 2,249,901,000 |