An excess of water in the Pueblo Reservoir could mean a stable growing season for farmers in southern Colorado.

Currently, the reservoir has more than 261,200 acre-feet of water behind the dam; that's more than 85 billion gallons of water. That amount is also the most water that's been in the reservoir since March 2000. "It makes everyone happy. The municipalities are full and the farmers get an extra allotment of water," says Facility Manager for the Bureau of Reclamation, Roy Vaughan.

According to Vaughan, there are several reasons for the vast amount of water. One reason is the plentiful amount of precipitation that's been falling for the last five years. The last time the reservoir was this full, a drought devastated its supply. It was down to a quarter of its capacity, or just over 21 billion gallons in October 2003.

Another reason is because water has been moved downstream from several lakes to make space for Spring run-off from the western slope. With snowpack this year currently near the "average" range, the bureau hopes to capture 14 to 16 billion gallons of water.

The third reason for the high water level is the Winter Water Storage program. Before the conservation program, farmers would simply flood their fields in the winter. Most of this water would eventually evaporate or move downstream and become useless before it could be used.

Presently, the winter water storage system allows groups to store water in the reservoirs Flood Control space from November 15 through March 15. The bureau then has a month to reduce the water level to the the start of the Flood Control space, if the current level is above it; such is the case this year.

If you look at the reservoir like a giant bowl, the very top portion is reserved for Flood Control. The bureau is currently allocating enough space for more than 30 billion gallons of water to be held in this part of the reservoir.

Currently, there is about 2 billion gallons of excess water in the reservoir. Over the next month, some of the water will evaporate, more will be used up by local municipalities, and still more will be used by farmers as they begin their spring planting. By May 1, all of last years left over winter water storage and program water must be flushed from the reservoir.

One group that is going to have to decide what they will do with their excess water is the city of Aurora. Their options are to sell the water to someone who can use it, or simply return it to the Arkansas River. As of Tuesday, the city has not decided what it will do, and will likely wait until closer to the April 15 deadline to make that decision.