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Transcript for A New Horizon, segment 05 of 13
The Eastern Colorado Project's office in Loveland is responsible for the Frying Pan-Arkansas Project in the southeastern part of the state and the Colorado-Big Thompson Project in the north central part of the state. The Colorado-Big Thompson is one of the most complex projects ever undertaken by Reclamation. It includes over one hundred water and power facilities which store, regulate, and divert water from the Colorado River on the west slope of the Continental Divide to one hundred twenty-five water user organizations on the east slope. The project's main features are ten reservoirs, three pumping plants, seven power plants, and the thirteen mile long Alva B. Adams Tunnel under the Divide. The Colorado-Big Thompson Project provides irrigation water for about seven hundred twenty thousand acres of farmland and serves more than four hundred thousand people in the South Platte River Basin.
The Frying Pan-Arkansas Project diverts west slope water through a tunnel under the Continental Divide to the Arkansas Valley on the east slope. The project has five storage reservoirs and one pump-back storage unit with power generating capacity. The terminal storage feature is Pueblo Dam and Reservoir near the city of Pueblo. The reservoir has become one of the most popular recreation spots in the state. The largest and most technologically advanced fish hatchery in Colorado is located near the base of the dam. Water from the Frying Pan-Arkansas Project provides supplemental irrigation for two hundred eighty thousand acres and serves the four hundred thirty thousand people in the Arkansas River Basin.