The Terry Ranch Project is an underground water supply and storage project that could provide Greeley 1.2 million acre-feet of water to meet the needs of the city’s growing population. Greeley is purchasing a decreed non-tributary groundwater right along with rights to store water in the aquifer. Greeley will not own the land surface, but will be allowed to use the surface to develop the groundwater. 

The Terry Ranch Project is an underground water storage project while the Milton Seaman Reservoir enlargement project is a surface reservoir storage project. 

Terry Ranch

The Terry Ranch Project does not have nearly as many permitting obstacles. In fact, if the city decides to close on the purchase of the aquifer, construction on the project could begin in early 2022. The Terry Ranch Project woulf be significantly less costly than the Milton Seaman Reservoir enlargement project. Also, the Terry Ranch Project can be built incrementally over many years, and groundwater wells can be added only when additional water is needed. This means Greeley can pay for the project over time.

Milton Seaman

If approved, the Milton Seaman project would meet the city’s water need. However, it requires extensive permitting and comes without a definitive timeframe for completion. The city has already invested nearly 15 years of time and resources in permitting for Milton Seaman. The work already completed on the Milton Seaman project led to the identification of the Terry Ranch Project. If it is determined that the Terry Ranch Project is not a viable option, the permitting work will be resumed.

Both projects would provide Greeley its needed water supply and storage. However, the Terry Ranch project is less expensive and much more certain than the Milton Seaman Reservoir enlargement. Greeley’s ability to secure required federal, state, and county permits for constructing the Milton Seaman enlargement is uncertain.

No, however Greeley Water and Sewer Board signed a preliminary purchase contract in June 2020. That contract gives the city up to seven months to conduct diligence (testing and analysis) on the project and two months to decide whether to close. Results of diligence investigations will be used to help city leaders and staff make an informed decision. 

Despite the time and expense, the city has yet to receive any of the permits needed to enlarge Milton Seaman Reservoir. Enlarging Milton Seaman Reservoir will cause various environmental impacts, impacts that federal, state, and local authorities are evaluating.  Greeley will be required to provide costly mitigation for any identified environmental impacts. 

The time and money put into the Milton Seaman reservoir project has been to acquire necessary federal permits. These permits required the city to look into alternative water supply and storage options. The Terry Ranch Project was identified through the federal permitting process for the Milton Seaman enlargement. The money spent to support the Milton Seaman project also produced a very large amount of useful information that the city continue will use to plan for the future and to protect its water resources.

Early information indicates that, yes, water from the aquifer would be safe. The current diligence phase is specifically intended to confirm and assure Greeley water users the water will be safe. Diligence means conducting investigations to verify the project is safe, reliable, and can be cost-effectively built. Greeley has assembled a team of experts to conduct these investigations, which include testing groundwater quality; drilling two test wells for hydrogeological testing (in additional to the five wells already drilled); evaluating the water quality impacts of mixing surface water with groundwater and the aquifer materials; confirming pumping rates; assessing environmental conditions including wetlands, endangered species, and cultural resources; and completing a preliminary design and cost estimate. It is essential that the city ensures the Terry Ranch Property water is safe for use and every possible test is being used to make sure this water is a good investment. To date, the city has collected well over 5,000 water quality data points and analyzed the water for over 575 contaminates.  The Greeley City Council and Water Board will review diligence results when deciding whether to finalize the purchase.

 

Wingfoot Water Resources is a private company that developed the groundwater rights of the Terry Ranch Project. In 2017, Wingfoot received a Water Court Decree for the 1.2 million acre-feet of groundwater. Wingfoot also assembled the various surface rights to develop the water and drilled the first five production wells on the site.

No. If the sale is completed, Wingfoot will have no part in operating the Terry Ranch Project or any other aspect of Greeley’s water system. Terms of the agreement allow Wingfoot to share the revenue of any groundwater sold by Greeley.  Wingfoot will not receive any ongoing compensation for water sold to Greeley customers.

Rather than paying money upfront, the city is issuing the seller, Wingfoot Water Resources (Wingfoot), water supply credits. Each credit will be worth one acre-foot of water supply redeemable to meet the city’s raw water dedication requirements – payments in the form of water or cash required of developers or builders to construct in the city. The water supply credits are only redeemable within the City of Greeley. Wingfoot will benefit by being able to sell credits to developers and builders. Greeley benefits by not having to pay for the project all at once. This arrangement shares financial risks between the Greeley and Wingfoot, and will result in lower water rates for Greeley water customers. Wingfoot will not own or operate the Terry Ranch Project.  

No. Terry Ranch groundwater is unconnected to the groundwater in and around Greeley.  Furthermore, Terry Ranch groundwater comes from deep aquifers (200 to 1,200 feet underground) and classified by the state as being non-tributary. Non-tributary groundwater is isolated from surface streams and reservoirs, and can be reused many times. Most groundwater use in and around Greeley is from shallow alluvial wells pumping tributary groundwater. Tributary groundwater pumping typically requires the user to replace the amount pumped back to the river. 

Terry Ranch groundwater is excellent quality. It does, however, contain small amounts of naturally occurring uranium. Uranium is wide-spread in groundwater in Colorado and the western U.S. Uranium can be fully treated, and Greeley will remove the uranium from the groundwater before delivering the water to Greeley.  Removing uranium is a common practice in water. There are proven technologies for uranium removal in water. In fact, Greeley’s current water sources contain low levels of uranium, which are removed through existing treatment plants.  Water quality, and specifically uranium, are a focus of diligence activities. 

 

Uranium treatment is commonplace, and there are many proven systems that remove uranium from water.  Like Greeley’s two existing treatment plants, the Terry Ranch treatment system will be designed with redundancy; it will have two treatment systems in a row and a backup system on reserve.  Greeley routinely tests the performance of its treatment plants by taking water quality samples throughout its water system.  Also, as part of diligence, the city operated a small treatment system to treat Terry Ranch water over 30 days.  The system removed uranium to below detection.  

The cost of treating Terry Ranch groundwater will likely be comparable to the cost of Greeley’s existing Boyd Water Treatment Plant.  

Testing shows Terry Ranch water tastes excellent.  Currently, Greeley has some of the best tasting water in the country despite sometimes having relatively poor-quality raw (untreated) water sources, such as from Boyd Lake.  Greeley treats and blends Boyd Lake water in a variety of ways to improve taste.  Similarly, Greeley will have the ability to treat and blend Terry Ranch water to achieve consistently great tasting water.

No.  Greeley has no plan to supply water to Thornton.  The Terry Ranch project is being developed for Greeley.

No.  The Terry Ranch Project is being developed for Greeley residents

No.  Colorado law allows water storage rights to be moved. If the Terry Ranch purchase is approved, the city will seek to move rights associated with the Milton Seaman enlargement to Terry Ranch or other Greeley storage reservoirs.  All rights associated with the existing Milton Seaman Reservoir will be maintained.

No, groundwater is not affected by droughts or disruptions to watershed.  This is why Terry Ranch groundwater could be very valuable when operated with the city’s existing surface water system.  The city will use Terry Ranch primarily as a drought supply or when there are disruptions to our existing surface water system.  The current fire in the Poudre watershed is a good example of this type of threat.  Greeley will continue to rely mostly on its surface supply, turning on Terry Ranch only when needed.

As part of its diligence, the city evaluated the potential for surface uses in the aquifer recharge area to contaminate Terry Ranch groundwater.  The city specifically looked at Fort Collins’ application of biosolids (residue from the wastewater treatment) at Meadow Spring Ranch, which is located just to the west of Terry Ranch.  Results of these studies found that it would take over 1,000 years for solids applied at Meadow Spring Ranch to reach the Terry Ranch groundwater.  Over that time, most compounds in biosolids will degrade.

If the purchase agreement is approved, Greeley will own rights to both the groundwater and the underground aquifer where water will be stored.  In other words, the purchase gives Greeley all legal rights necessary to store water at Terry Ranch.  Before injecting water underground, Greeley would need to receive a water quality permit from the EPA and a permit from the State of Colorado certifying that Greeley will follow State guidelines on water accounting, well construction, etc.   Such permits are fairly routine; in fact, Greeley already received similar authorizations to perform a pilot injection test this fall.

The aquifer underlying Terry Ranch is regional in scale and extends far beyond the property boundaries. Treated surface water injected and stored in the aquifer will 1) fill unsaturated portions of the aquifer, and 2) displace groundwater in the saturated zone. Displacing groundwater will result in a rise in water levels and/or pressure head in vicinity of the injection well. Groundwater modeling confirms that the aquifer can accommodate the volumes of water Greeley anticipates injecting/storing.