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water in the Metro area to meet the gap. Water quality is also a problem, sp ecifically <br />nitrates and total dissolved solids . Municipalities are trying to set up reverse osmosis <br />processing to deal with these issues , but may not be able to get a permit to put treated <br />water back into the river. <br /> <br />Peter Bi nney, Dir ector of Utilities for the City of Aurora: Peter began by saying that <br />Aurora has been in the water business for the last 50 years, with the second lar gest <br />system in the Metro area (serves 300,000 people ) . Projected growth will expand the <br />number served to 500,000. Aurora’s water system has primarily residential users, with <br />industrial use increasing . 95 % of the city’s supply comes from surface water. Aurora <br />developed direct flow rights on Upper S outh Platte in the 1980s and obtained water in <br />Rocky Ford area during the sam e decade. The city owns Homestake reservoir in <br />coop eration with Colorado Springs , and is active in trans - basin diversions. Aurora <br />Reservoir was developed in the 1980s and holds water on the plains when water is not <br />available from other sources. <br /> <br />During the 2003 drought, the city’s supply dropped to 9 mo nths of predictable water, and <br />the city had to prepare to cut off all non - essential uses. Once the crisis ended, Aurora <br />d eveloped new plans to avoid similar situations in the future, including dry year l ease <br />arrangements. The City’s current Prairies Waters Proj e c t provides dro ught hardening and <br />mee ts long term capacity needs until 2025. It is one of over 25 possible projects <br />examined by the municipality to meet future needs. Aurora i nstitutionalized de mand <br />management through pricing, regula tion and enforcement programs, and developed an <br />integrated resource management plan to deal with storage for peaking capacity . The city <br />has made a trade - off between treatment costs (reuse) and diversion costs or othe r means <br />to secure new water. Quality costs significantly impact s Aurora’s development strategy, <br />because much available water is not of the highest quality. <br /> <br />Peter stated that new water projects will not be paid for with state or federal funds, but by <br />muni cipal or industrial water provider s, and added that “ Cheap water is dead. ” He <br />questioned whether the Metro area can sustain the economic and pop ulation development <br />projected without increasing the price of water, and speculated that increasing water costs <br />will encourage development within existing urban boundaries rather than more sprawl. <br />Peter added that consumers are already looking fore smaller yards in response to tap fee <br />increases. <br /> <br />C hips Berry, Manager, Denver Water System: Chips told the group t hat Denver <br />currently has surplus of water supply in most years, and this is projected to continue until <br />2050 when growth will cause a gap between demand and supply. The city system <br />includes 1 1 major reservoirs and tunnels. Denver Water has an integrated resource plan <br />with a 50 y ea r horizon , and the Board has asked for an accelerated water conservation <br />plan that will yield significant water savings . Chips expressed uncertainty regarding how <br />successful conservation measures will be over long term as a tool to match supply with <br />demand . He explained by differentiating everyday conservation from emergency <br />measures enacted in times of drought. <br /> <br /> 14 <br />