The City of Greeley acquires water rights through buy and dry of two local farms. Longs Peak Dairy to get the land.

Photo by Joel Dunn via Unsplash.

By Kelly Ragan

While we did just experience a fairly major rainstorm, the City of Greeley is always on the hunt to acquire more water. It’s part of the city’s plan to accommodate the area’s growth. The latest source? Two local farms.

At a city council meeting Tuesday, council voted unanimously to approve a deal between the city and Longs Peak Dairy that will result in Greeley owning the water rights to Hasbrouck Farm and Varra Farm, while Longs Peak Dairy gets the land.  

The city bought the two farms in 2016. Since then, it’s been leasing the farms, along with their water rights. Historically, those farms have been irrigated. 

This year, Greeley’s Water and Sewer Board agreed to buy up the water shares – which, Deputy Director for Water Resources Adam Jokerst said, yields the best water, as it’s mostly trans-basin water. 

“The farm will be sold without the water,” Jokerst said. “This is a common practice. We buy the farm and sell it back at dry land value.” 

With city council’s vote Tuesday, Hasbrouck Farm and Varra Farm, 282 acres and 156 acres respectively, will no longer be irrigated. 

Buy and Dry 

The term “buy and dry” is exactly what it sounds like. It describes a situation in which a local municipality (like Greeley, in this case) buys some or all of the water rights from the owner of a farm. 

This could mean, like with Hasbrouck and Varra farms, that the city buys the whole farm, along with the water rights, and sells or leases it at dry land value. 

Why would a city do this? 

When it comes to water rights in Colorado, seniority matters. Whoever has the shares longest, gets first dibs on water. Since Weld County has long been an agricultural area, the water rights with local farms tend to be old – which means whoever owns them has dibs. 

As cities along the Front Range continue to grow, they need water. Many municipalities are eyeing agricultural water rights to help supplement the need. 

The city of Thornton, for example, has been buying up farms in Ault and Pierce since the 1980s, according to a report by the Coloradoan. 

According to a report by KUNC, about 70% of the Colorado-Big Thompson Project’s water is now used by municipalities and industries, a drastic shift from when the project was primarily used to transport water from the Western Slop out east. 

Greeley is growing. If that wasn’t obvious from the rush hour traffic or new housing developments, projections show Greeley is expected to grow to more than 260,000 people in the next 50 years. 

The City of Greeley watersheds also saw unprecedented damage during the Cameron Peak and East Troublesome fires. 

Just last week, the city had to stop drawing water from the Cache La Poudre River because of ash and debris in the water, according to CBS. Usually Greeley draws about 45% of its water from the Poudre. 

So, Greeley is also looking for water where it can get it. 

Sean Chambers, director of Water and Sewer, said at the meeting Tuesday that the farms were “an important part of an important water acquisition we’re working on.” 

The city has several other projects in the works to address its future water needs, including the Terry Ranch Project and the Windy Gap Project.