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How Northern Water Is Using Floating Booms to Protect Reservoir Projects From Forest Fire Debris
A debris boom manufactured by Worthington Products in Grand Lake, Colorado, protects the Alva B. Adams Tunnel from debris dislodged following the East Troublesome Fire.
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orthern Water provides raw water and irrigation water to over 1 million residents of northeastern Colorado. Much of that water is sourced from the western slope of the Continental Divide and transported to the more heavily populated eastern slope via major infrastructure projects such as the federally owned Colorado–Big Thompson Project. Due to dry weather and threats to trees such as pine beetles, Colorado has recently suffered serious wildfires, which can pose risks to the quality of the water Northern Water delivers and to the infrastructure it uses. In this interview, General Manager Brad Wind tells us about the effects of the 2020 East Troublesome Fire and about the debris protection booms Northern Water installed in its system in response.
My experience is mainly on the engineering side and working on water rights. I also assisted staff on project operations for a couple of years. At the time, the focus was on the federal Colorado–Big Thompson project. I assisted staff in the field, both on the western side of the Continental Divide, where we collect most of our water supplies, and on the eastern slope, where Northern Water and the Bureau of Reclamation get those supplies positioned into local reservoirs and deliver them to the various beneficiaries of the project, including agricultural interests that receive water during the growing season and municipalities that receive water year-round.
Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.
Brad Wind: Northern Water was founded in 1937 and partnered with the Bureau of Reclamation to build the Colorado–Big Thompson Project, which collects water on the western side of the Continental Divide and stores it in federally owned reservoirs to be brought east into our service area in northeastern Colorado. Northern Water’s
18 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | March 2022
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PHOTOS COURTESY OF NORTHERN WATER.
Brad Wind: I’ve been employed by Northern Water for 28 years and have been general manager for nearly 4 years.
Municipal Water Leader: Please tell us about Northern Water.
