A controversial 53-year-old plan to build a major dam above Lyons is drawing renewed attention as a northern Colorado water district seeks to maintain its right to use the water associated with the long-dormant project.
The St. Vrain and Left Hand Water Conservancy District is based in Longmont and serves thousands of people and dozens of farms in Boulder, Larimer and Weld counties. It filed an application in a special water court earlier this year to maintain its right to use the water at some point in the future. The water right dates back to 1971, according to Sean Cronin, the district’s executive director, and is classified as conditional because the water has not yet been captured and put to use.
The district hasn’t said whether it plans to pursue the dam project, but some critics have sounded the alarm over the possibility.
The environmental advocacy group Save the World’s Rivers says the dam project would be expensive and environmentally harmful to the river and that it is time for the district to look at other options.
“They have been doing their diligence for [more than] 40 years and the world and state and the county and community have changed a lot since then,” said Gary Wockner, director of the river advocacy group. “And they are still proposing to build this massive dam.”
The group and its affiliates have sued to stop several major Colorado dam and reservoir projects, causing delays in construction and strengthening environmental protections in some cases.
While building dams and reservoirs was common in Colorado decades ago, such projects are rare now in part due to their expense and the scarcity of water.
The water right associated with the Coffintop Dam project could generate 84,000 acre-feet of water, and the dam has been designed to stand more than 350 feet tall. In comparison, the Horsetooth Dam west of Fort Collins, is just 155 feet tall. An acre-foot of water equals 326,000 gallons, enough to serve at least two urban homes for one year.
Whether the Coffintop Dam would ever be built is unclear and many would say unlikely. St. Vrain valley water officials have talked for years about using small gravel ponds along the river farther downstream to store the water, abandoning the dam proposal. But Cronin declined to comment on whether the district actually plans to build the dam at some future date, or whether it would use the water at a different location, citing the confidentiality of the water court litigation.
“In 1971, The St. Vrain and Left Hand Water Conservancy was bestowed the stewardship of the water right to benefit the entire valley,” Cronin said via email. “And to that end, has worked, particularly in the last decade, to ensure the ultimate use of the right will reflect the values of the entire community in the valley.”
The district is fulfilling its legal obligation to maintain the water right, he said.
“The St. Vrain and Left Hand Water Conservancy District believes it’s been very diligent, in part because, for years, it has engaged in substantive conversations with community leaders on how this water right will provide multiple benefits to the valley, including but not limited to environmental benefits,” Cronin said.
The case comes after Lyons officials last November adopted a resolution stating their intent to broadly protect the river, which is a major feature of the town. It is related to an emerging “rights of nature” movement in Colorado by communities to protect their waterways from the threat of development.
Nederland adopted a similar resolution in 2021, but rescinded it in May after Wockner’s group sued to oppose a dam the town is considering on Middle Boulder Creek.
Though the Lyons resolution is similar, it was negotiated with input from the St. Vrain district, according to Cronin, who said the district and the town have a strong working relationship.
Town Administrator Victoria Simsonsen declined Wednesday to comment on the case, but said talks about the water right continue.
Lyons resident Bob Brakenridge said there would likely be huge concern if any new dam proposal emerged. Brakenridge is vice chair of the Lyons Ecology Advisory Board.
“I personally, and I think that would extend to many other people here, would be strongly opposed to any actual dam. … And it’s troubling that they are, for whatever reasons, holding onto this water right,” he said, clarifying that he was not speaking for the ecology board or the city.
But Cronin said the district is bound to make sure the water right is preserved and ultimately used in a way that benefits district residents.
“The district welcomes anyone to the discussion on ways to maximize this water right, so long as participants support the district’s mission to protect water quality, safeguard and conserve drinking water, grow local food, maintain healthy rivers and creeks, and store water for dry years,” he said.
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