The Fort Collins Loveland Water District is investing in an aquifer near the Wyoming and Colorado border in an effort to secure drinking water for the region's projected growth.

The aquifer, combined with the district's shares in surface water, could help guarantee many Northern Colorado residents have reliable access to drinking water for hundreds of years.

Chris Pletcher, general manager of the district, said his team is partnering with a company known as Front Range H20 Transfer, LLC, in order to tap the aquifer.

An aquifer is a naturally formed retainer underground capable of holding water without it flowing elsewhere downstream.

"An aquifer is underground rock layers that are porous. They have holes in them that contain water," Pletcher said. "All of our portfolio today is based on surface water."

The district bought into the aquifer located in far-north Weld County, buying the rights to a percentage of the aquifer's resources. They have the ability to buy more shares of the rights in the years to come if need be.

Shaped like a metaphorical bowl or tank, the aquifer has water naturally trapped inside it. The aquifer, more specifically identified as an aquitard, is enclosed. That means, in order to pull water from it, the aquitard must be tapped into by a drill and piping.

From there, districts like those with the Fort Collins Loveland Water District are able to siphon out water from the natural resource when needed. However, Pletcher said that they plan to rely on their share only in times of need.

"In dry years we will lean on it a little heavier, and in surplus years of surface water or wet years, we will put more into the aquifer," Pletcher said.

As part of their agreement to participate in this project, the district will return the same amount of water it pulls from the aquifer.

The district currently owns water rights to the Poudre River as well as the Laramie, Michigan, and Colorado Rivers.

In dry years, the district would have to return water from those rivers and pump it to Weld County and down into the aquifer.

Pletcher said the effort will ultimately save his customers money.

"Most surface water needs to be supplied and also treated. Because this water doesn't require treatment, this saves us about $200 million by not building a treatment plant specifically for this water," Pletcher said.

Northern Colorado is one of the fastest-growing regions in Colorado, with a population projected to double in the next two decades.

The Fort Collins Loveland Water District owns the rights to supply certain communities water if builders are granted permission to add taps by the respective communities.

Without control over when the growth will take place, or how quickly, Pletcher said it was important for the district to further secure water access in anticipation of the growth.

Pletcher said he believed the aquifer would help his district further secure water for more than 5,000 new homes, or an additional 10,000 consumers, over the next decade.

Pletcher said this was a great opportunity for his company to also secure access to drinking water without having to buy and dry an agricultural operation, "which really feels good to us, that we are not having a detrimental effect on agriculture," he said.

If the project moves forward as anticipated, the district will have access to the aquifer's resources by the spring of 2029.

"That is really important for us, to meet the current and future needs of our customers," Pletcher said.