Northern Water is a public agency created in 1937 to contract with the federal government to build the Colorado-Big Thompson Project. The C-BT Project provides supplemental water to more than 640,000 acres of irrigated farm and ranch land and about 895,000 people in Northeastern Colorado.

Northern Water and the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation jointly operate and maintain the C-BT Project, which collects West Slope water and delivers it to portions of eight Northeastern Colorado counties. In addition, Northern Water collects, distributes and monitors weather and water quality data, tracks streamflows and reservoir levels, and provides water planning and water conservation information.