City of Greeley News

The City of Greeley has temporarily closed through January a portion of the Poudre Trail to accommodate water storage excavation and riverbank stabilization. The work will protect the trail and the Poudre Ponds Recreational Fishery from flood events.

Just south of the Poudre Trail at 35^th Avenue, crews will excavate and remove sediment from Pond A to restore the full water storage capacity, and they will construct a 65-foot-deep liner to the south around the new Pond B.  Pond A has been drained to accommodate building a pipe connecting both ponds to move water between the two.

This project necessitates closing the Poudre Trail from 25^th to 35^th avenues for a short period of time until crews finish the flood protection activities at the site. The temporary closure is for safety and in part due to federal regulations that prohibit foot traffic in and around “mining activities.” The trail is expected to reopen in early February or sooner.

Officials closed the fishery in November to accommodate the entire project, and it is expected to remain closed through April 2021. 

Water stored in the ponds will be used for non-potable irrigation purposes at city parks and larger institutional users throughout the city, such as universities, HOAs, and business campuses.

The pond expansions are part of a longer-range plan to irrigate all city parks and large irrigation users with raw, untreated (non-potable) water. It first must build the connecting infrastructure to better move various sources of non-potable water throughout the city. The infrastructure will be built in phases over the next 10 years.

“These are large and important infrastructure projects that the city plans to tackle in incremental pieces over time to build out the non-potable system while minimizing the cost impact to customers,” said Sean Chambers, director of Greeley Water and Sewer. “There will be multiple phases of pipelines, pump stations, and storage facilities, all geared toward interconnecting non-potable infrastructure for the most effective use of the city’s various sources of water.  Over time, the non-potable system will allow the city to efficiently use the higher-value water rights that are treated near the foothills and delivered to our customers for drinking.”