Releases from Willow Creek start March 10

To prepare for spring runoff and peak inflows, we normally evacuate water from Willow Creek Reservoir in April, but because inflows to the reservoir have been much higher than usual, we need to release water now.

The releases will begin mid-morning tomorrow, March 10. The initial release rate is 100 cfs and releases will likely continue through the end of March.

Digging out the Willow Creek Pump Canal in 2008

Under normal circumstances, we would pump the water over to Lake Granby. But it’s early and the canal that carries water to Lake Granby is filled with snow. We could dig out the canal, but that doesn’t make a lot of sense when we consider this year’s likelihood that Lake Granby will spill – meaning it will be so full we’ll need to make controlled releases.

So we are going to evacuate Willow Creek Reservoir by releasing water through the outlet into Willow Creek. From there, the water will flow into the Colorado River.

If you want to keep up-to-date, the State of Colorado maintains Web pages with real-time release information and reservoir elevations.

An interesting side fact: Wintertime inflows to Willow Creek Reservoir have been higher for the last few years, and we speculate that it’s related to the massive beetle kill in the watershed.