Transbasin (C-BT) Leases

There are two types of transbasin (C-BT)  raw water leases:

• municipal or non-agricultural use

• agricultural irrigation use

Because these leases involve water regulated through the Northern Water Colorado Big-Thompson (C-BT) project, these leases have additional considerations: 

• Both lease types are subject to potential Rule 11 fees (see rates section). 

• On top of the City's right to refuse leases if there is a declared drought or urgent need for water (see terms and conditions section), no transbasin (C-BT) leases will be fulfilled if the City declares a drought, has an urgent need for the water, or if the Spring C-BT Quota is 50% or less.

• A lease for agricultural or irrigation use requires the submission of a lease request form for review by our Water Resources team.

Native Big Thompson Ditch Shares 

Native water rights designated for agriculture or irrigation may or may not be available for lease.

Specific native ditch shares, if not used or needed by the City, are leased to the original farm for continued irrigation under the City's Water Bank agreements or allocated to historically irrigated lands decreed for those shares.

Fully Reusable

Fully reusable (consumable) water resources within our inventory can potentially be leased out to interested parties for augmentation or other uses. This water can be utilized to depletion, but exists in limited quantities, so requests undergo a stringent evaluation prior to being approved.  The specific criteria the raw water lease must meet will be discussed once a request is submitted.

All requests for raw water leases must be made in writing to our Water Resources Division and shall be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and approved at the City’s sole discretion.

• The only exception to case-by-case review is when native ditch shares are governed by a water bank agreement. 

Additional terms and conditions shall apply as necessary to comply with State of Colorado Water Court decree requirements.

Every lease agreement will include language making the lease contingent on the City's adequate supply of raw water for its own needs. In the event of emergency or extreme drought condition such that the City requires additional water, the City reserves the right to immediately terminate leases. 

• In addition, no transbasin (C-BT) leases will be fulfilled if the City declares a drought, has an urgent need for the water, or if the Spring C-BT Quota is 50% or less.

• The rates for raw water leases are based on costs per acre-foot of water leased.

• The raw water lease rates for the current year can be found through the Rates, Charges and Fees document.  This document is approved by the Loveland City Council for that particular year.

• Rates are subject to change annually. 

• All leases include an additional 5% administration fee. 

• Depending on water availability, the City reserves the right to lease raw water for certain users or uses at rates lower than the lease rates approved by Loveland City Council. 

• Transbasin (C-BT) leases may include Northern Water's Rule 11 fees if applicable.

  • If Rule 11 applies to a seasonal C-BT transfer, Northern Water will not approve the transfer until the fee is either paid or Northern Water has assurance it will be paid.  Usually the fee is charged in advance of delivering the water by the ditch company carrying the water. They pay the fee upfront to Northern Water and then seek reimbursement from the shareholder conveying the C-BT water.
    
    
  • The Rule 11 fee does not apply if the C-BT water is being delivered to landscaped irrigation within Loveland's water service area. 

2024 Current Rates:

Multi-year leases may be allowed on a case-by-case basis at the sole discretion of the City.  Additional fees and terms will apply.   

Any water lease for more than three years must be reviewed and approved by the City Council. The Loveland Utilities Commission (LUC) reviews all leases and makes recommendations to City Council. The LUC approved Resolution #R-2-2019U, describing the criteria by which the LUC will review requests for long-term augmentation leases.

Lease requests may begin January 1st of the year in which the water is requested.  The lease request form must be completed in full before it will be placed on the request list for consideration.  Forms can be submitted via email or mailed/dropped off according to the instructions within the document. 

Though leases cannot be fulfilled until Northern Water sets the Spring C-BT Quota in mid-to-late April of each water year, lease requests should be submitted before the Quota is set in order to receive the full consideration.

Once the Spring C-BT Quota is set, requests will be processed by priority as follows:

• Users with land where return flows come back to the Big Thompson River, in the order requests were received.
  
  
• All other user lease requests, in the order they were received. 

If water is available, lease requests may be submitted until the third week of October. 

City staff will notify successful applicants of when surplus water is available. Once contacted, the potential lessee has 3 business days to confirm their intent to lease the water. Upon receipt of confirmation, the City will send a lease agreement and invoice. The recipient must return a signed agreement and submit payment to the City within 10 business days.  If the recipient does not respond within 10 business days, the City will allocate the water to the next applicant in priority.

• Lease request must be at least 5 acre-feet(af)
  
  
• Individual party requests are capped at 100 af
  
  
• Municipal/domestic water providers may request up to 300 af
  
  
• Mutual ditch companies may request up to 300 af

No C-BT leases will be fulfilled if the City declares a drought, has an urgent need for the water, or if the Spring C-BT Quota is 50% or less.

If surplus or additional water is determined by the City to be available after initial lease requests have been processed, City staff will make such water available for new lease requests.

Rates and percentages used based off of information or projections for 2024 from Northern Water. 

In this example, Rule 11 does not apply and no fee is added to the municipal rate per acre-foot. If it was applicable, those fees would need to be paid to Northern Water or the ditch company delivering the water.