Greeley City Council unanimously approves Terry Ranch Project

 By Kelly Ragan

The Terry Ranch Project is officially a go as Greeley City Council unanimously voted to approve the agreement Tuesday night.

During about an hour’s worth of public comment, most speakers voiced support for the project, including community leaders such as Jaime Henning, president of the Greeley Area Chamber of Commerce, Cheri Witt-Brown, executive director Greeley-Weld Habitat for Humanity, and Jeannine Truswell, president and CEO of United Way of Weld County.

Some folks, mostly affiliated with the group Save Greeley’s Water, spoke against the project, raising concerns about the impact to water quality, water safety, the cost of treatment, and the impact to the I-25 corridor.

What is the Terry Ranch Project?

Since the early 2000s, Greeley planned to increase its ability to store water by enlarging the Milton Seaman Reservoir. 

But during the long, arduous federal permitting process for an expansion project of that nature, the Milton Seaman Reservoir enlargement ran into some major snags. 

Adam Jokerst, deputy director of Water and Sewer, said at a previous city council meeting that’s highlighted by the fact the city has spent $19 million since 2006 trying to get the necessary permits. Fifteen years later, the city still doesn’t have the permits.  

Much of that comes down to the potential environmental impact the project would have. 

“It’d inundate wetlands and stream a channel of the north fork, including an area heavily used by the public,” Jokerst said. “It would inundate critical habitats to endangered species, and it would inundate lands we don’t own nor can we condemn, such as the U.S. Forest Service, State of Colorado, Larimer County and the city of Fort Collins.” 

During the Milton Seaman enlargement due diligence process, the city had to scope out alternatives. When it did, it found Terry Ranch. 

Terry Ranch is set to change the way Greeley deals with water forever.

Terry Ranch is an underground, non-tributary aquifer – which means it’s not connected to a surface reservoir or stream – out north near the Wyoming border. 

Because it’s underground, it’s not subject to the dangers of evaporation or devastating wildfires, like many of Greeley’s other major sources of water. 

In 2020, the Cameron Peak and East Troublesome wildfires caused “unprecedented, never-before-seen damage to City of Greeley watersheds,” said Sean Chambers, Water and Sewer director, at a previous council meeting. 

The city plans to use the space to inject and store water into the underground aquifer to use later as well as use what’s there now. 

The project would develop about 1.2 million acre-feet of groundwater. As it stands, the city uses about 25,000 acre-feet of water per year. 

The construction cost for the Terry Ranch Project is estimated to be about $250 million. 

Though the seller, Wingfoot Water Resources, would help finance the project (thus sharing the financial risks), the city would control and operate the project.

The city plans to issue Wingfoot raw water credits to use to sell to developers to pay off the project – once those are all issued, or after 10 years (whichever comes first) the city will own the project in its entirety.

Community concerns 

During the city’s water quality investigation of Terry Ranch, it found naturally occurring uranium, which is common in many groundwater sources. 

“Uranium 238 is very different than what’s found in nuclear power plants,” Jokerst said. “It’s naturally occurring and can be removed. We will remove it.” 

The city already treats the water it gets from the Poudre River and the Colorado Big Thompson for uranium, Jokerst said, and has been doing so for 100 years. 

The city also performed a 30-day pilot test to ensure it could successfully remove the uranium – and it passed. 

Greeley residents, Jokerst said again for emphasis, will not receive water with measurable amounts of uranium.  

Despite the city’s certainty, uranium remains a concern for some critics. 

John Gauthiere, a vocal opponent of the project, has written several blog posts that appear on his website, Save Greeley’s Water. 

In one recent post he wrote, “The Terry Ranch aquifer is already contaminated with uranium exceeding the Safe Drinking Water Act limits and is subject to considerable risk of additional contamination from oil and mineral exploration and extraction.”

The city is adamant uranium is not an issue.

In February, the Greeley Water and Sewer Board voted to approve the project and encouraged city council to do the same.

At the meeting Tuesday, Greeley Water and Sewer Board Chairman Herold Evans roundly criticized misinformation spread by groups such as Save Greeley’s Water, ranging from claims city staff would receive commissions for the project to claims the project would actually serve the city of Thornton.

Ultimately council members approved the project, praising the due diligence that went into ensuring the safety, feasibility, and cost effectiveness of the project.