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....: .. ',. . INTRODUCTION *************** Pinewood Springs, Colorado,. is an unincorporated residential mountain com- munity located on Highway 36, approxmately 11 miles east of Estes Park, and presently' consisting. of 263 single family homes, and two restaurants. The primary water supply for Pinewood Springs is the Little Thompson River J which flows through the community. The water is treated using micro':'flltra- tion, pH control, and disinfection, and is conveyed to the community via a dis- . tribution system incorporating three separate pressure zones, and related stor- age facilities. All of the occUpied properties in Pinewood Springs are on indi- vidual septic systems for waste treatment. The water system for the cominunity is owned and operated by the Pinewood / Springs Water District, which was created by Decree of the Larimer County Court on April 19, 1978. At that time the water system facilities which had been installed by the original developer of the area were taken over by the District, and have been operated and expanded by the District ever since. While, as stated earlier, there are currently 263 residences being served by the system, the Water Augmentation Plan for the District establishes a total build- out of 350 Equivalent Residential (EQR) users for its service area.The differ- ence will be generated by the eventual occupation of the vacant lots scattered throughout the existing distribution system within the limits pf the present service area of the District. . As a result of a severe drought in the summer of 2000, the Little Thompson River ran dry, requiring that the District haul treated water from the City of Longmont to meet the demands of the system. Such serious _drought conditions have continued intermittently since that time, causing the River to run dry several more times, and causing the Disqict to conclude that it cannot rely on the Little Thompson River for a reliable and continuous supply of raw water. In September of 2002, the Pinewood Springs Water District retained.the ser- vices of McLaughlin Water Engineers to prepare a Planning Document to investigate a number of alternate approaches to solving the water supply prob- lem.This included the evaluation of several different sites for new reservoirs . in which water in excess of normal demand would be withdrawn from the Ri- ver and stored when the River was running, and then subsequently used as the primary supply when the River was dry. Also considered were transmission systems to deliver raw water to the District from established off site sources for use during such periods, and the continuation of hauling treated water.