Reservoir water flowing into Palmer Lake

After the state ordered town officials to shut it off, a pipe funneling water into Palmer Lake is open again.

Now water is gushing in from a different source.

The town plans to funnel about 6 acre-feet from a town reservoir into the lake over the next week, Palmer Lake council member Richard Allen said Monday. Officials opened the pipe last week.

During the past several weeks, the town had piped about 14 acre-feet of water into the lake from Monument Creek — water it bought for $40 per acre-foot from Woodmoor Water and Sanitation District.

But on Oct. 5, Rich Snyder, Division 2 commissioner for the Colorado Division of Water Resources, ordered the town to close the pipe because Monument needed the creek water for its lake.

Lack of rain had slowed the creek to a trickle, and because Monument’s creek water rights supersede those of Palmer Lake, Monument got first dibs.

But Palmer Lake still hadn’t used its reservoir water rights until last week, when the town released reservoir water into the pipe and opened it again.

The Town Council last month voted to fill the lake with 20 acre-feet of water, with no more than 10 coming from the reservoir and the rest from Woodmoor, which also draws water from Monument Creek.

If the town doesn’t use the reservoir water, “it just goes over the dam and downstream” to other users, said Jeff Hulsmann, chairman of the Awake the Lake committee, a group seeking ways to fill the often-languishing lake.

Snyder last week said that it could be dangerous for the town to use reservoir water to fill the lake because it’s the town’s emergency drinking water supply.

But Hulsmann and Allen said the risk of harming that emergency supply is remote.

“There’s a buffer in there that makes absolutely sure that domestic use will be protected above everything else,” Allen said.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0274 or jennifer.wilson@gazette.com

LAKE CELEBRATION

An Awake the Lake volunteer appreciation day party will be from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday at Palmer Lake.

Members of the public can enjoy free hot dogs and cider at the event while partaking in lake activities such as fishing and boating.

For more information, call Jeff Hulsmann at 488-3134.