July 10, 2023

Grand County Organizations Awarded Grants from Municipal Subdistrict Contributions

Three Grand County organizations were awarded grant funding made available from the first round of funds contributed by the Northern Water Municipal Subdistrict as part of the settlement to end the federal lawsuit over Chimney Hollow Reservoir. Grant funds made available totaled nearly $1 million.  

Construction of the reservoir began in August 2021 after an April settlement that resolved a federal lawsuit challenging the permit issued by the Bureau of Reclamation and Army Corps of Engineers. The settlement required the Subdistrict to contribute $15 million throughout the four-year construction timeline that will be administered by the Grand Foundation to pay for projects that enhance the Colorado River and its many tributaries in Grand County.  


Chimney Hollow Reservoir logo with valley in background.

The largest of the grants awarded was $660,000 to the Kawuneeche Valley Ecosystem Restoration Collaborative. This multi-agency initiative is helping to restore the valley ecosystem, which depends on functioning wetlands along the headwaters of the Colorado River that flows from Rocky Mountain National Park into Shadow Mountain Reservoir. The goal of the collaborative is to restore and protect the characteristics of the region by bringing back ecological and hydrologic functions lost due to an imbalance between local wildlife and changes to the Earth’s surface. This grant is for the first phase of the project on the North Fork of the Colorado River Watershed.  

Another recipient of $250,000 in grant funding is the Three Lakes Water and Sanitation District, which is conducting an investigation of septic systems in the Three Lakes area. The investigation will determine what the benefits and feasibility are of connecting residences to the sewer system in order to eliminate nutrient loading to the watersheds from their current septic systems.  

The third grant recipient is the Town of Grand Lake. It was awarded $80,000 for development of a stormwater management plan to improve the quality of stormwater runoff that enters Shadow Mountain Reservoir from Columbine Creek.  

The Chimney Hollow Reservoir Project is a collaboration between 12 Northeastern Colorado water providers to improve the reliability of, or make firm, water supplies from the Windy Gap Project. Chimney Hollow Reservoir will be located just west of Carter Lake in Larimer County to provide dedicated storage to supply a reliable 30,000 acre-feet of water each year for future generations.