Horsetooth Reservoir

Horsetooth stores up to around 152,000 acre feet of water, is roughly 7 miles long, and can be over 200 feet deep in certain places. It is one of two final storage locations for water diverted from the Colorado River by the Colorado-Big Thompson Project. The Bureau of Reclamation built, owns, and shares in the operation of Horsetooth. The Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, Reclamation's repayment partner on the C-BT project, maintains the reservoir and shares in its operations.

Horsetooth spends most summers steadily drawing down. Water from the reservoir goes to municipal, industrial, and agricultural uses. The City of Fort Collins, for example, gets roughly 50% of its water from Horsetooth and the C-BT.

Typically, the reservoir reaches its lowest water level elevation by the end of October each year. Maintenance on its four dams and Satanka Dike is year-round and the facility is closely monitored. But larger maintenance projects usually happen in the fall, when demands are lowest. The reservoir refills every year over the winter months and typically hits its highest water elevation level at the end of May. But, each water year is different and water level elevations vary greatly, based mostly on weather and demand.

For information on recreation at Horsetooth Reservoir: http://www.larimer.org/naturalresources/horsetooth.cfm

For Fishing, water levels, boating, conditions at Horsetooth Reservoir: http://www.larimer.org/naturalresources/conditions.cfm?location=4