The Northern Water Board of Directors has increased the 2025 Colorado-Big Thompson Project quota allocation by 5 percentage points, moving the annual allocation from 70 percent to 75 percent.

In a unanimous vote on Thursday, the board authorized the delivery of an additional 15,500 acre-feet of supplemental water to C-BT Project allottees.

The board made the decision based on current conditions, which show stream-flows well below average, along with below-average precipitation, soil moisture, and local reservoir storage. In contrast, storage in the Colorado-Big Thompson Project is above its long-term average for this date, giving water managers confidence in reservoir levels heading into 2026.

Northern Water’s board typically sets an initial quota in November and a supplemental quota in April, but there have been occasions in which additional quota has been allocated, including in 2020, 2022 and 2024. In April, the Board set the quota at 70 percent, which allowed project allottees to access seven-tenths of an acre-foot for each allotment contract unit they own. That amount now increases to three-quarters of an acre-foot for each allotment contract unit they own. 

More information is available at the Quota page on the Northern Water website.