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II. Problem Statement Denver Water is responsible for providing safe, high-quality, and dependable drinking water for over 1.2 million customers. To fulfill that responsibility, the Denver Board of Water Commissioners (Denver Water) developed an Integrated Resources Plan (IRP) in 1997 (updated in 2002) to analyze existing and future water supplies and customer demands, together with treated water infrastructure and conservation measures, The IRP and recent events have highlighted several existing system problems that could be eliminated or reduced significantly if new water supply can be located in Denver Water's Moffat Collection System (Figure 2). First, Denver Water has determined new supplies are needed as part of Denver Water's near term supply strategy. Second, the Moffat Collection System has an unreliable and inadequate water supply to meet present day demands of the Moffat Treatment Plant and raw water obligations that can only be served from the Moffat Collection System. Third, Denver Water's water collection system as a whole is vulnerable to manmade or natural disasters. Fourth, the treated water distribution and source water collection systems are susceptible to outages and failures, and therefore require a higher level of operational flexibility than is presently available. Denver Water is seeking a solution that will address the reliability, vulnerability, and flexibility problems in a way that produces 18,000 acre-feet of new firm yield, The solution must address all of the problems. Any solution that fails to resolve all four of the key issues fails as a resolution to Denver Water's needs. Need for Additional Water in the Moffat Collection System The IRP has two timeframes: 1) the near term from 1996 to 2030, and 2) the long term from 2030 to the build-out of Denver Water's Combined Service Area (CSA), To meet Denver Water's IRP near-term strategy and contract commitments, 18,000 acre-feet of additional firm yield is needed, "Firm yield" refers to the average annual supply that can be delivered to customers over an extended period, including the 1953 - 1957 historic drought period. Approximately 72,000 acre-feet of reservoir storage would provide 18,000 acre-feet of firm yield. This 18,000 acre-feet is in addition to other IRP projects including the implementation of an aggressive conservation program, construction of a non-potable recycling project, and implementation of a number of refinements to the existing system, The Reliability Problem - Inadequate Supply to the Moffat Treatment Plant Denver Water's "South System" is made up of the South Platte and Roberts Tunnel collection systems, and the "North System" is made up of the Moffat Collection System. The South Collection System supplies water to the Foothills and Marston treatment plants, and the Moffat Collection System supplies water to the Moffat Treatment Plant. In contrast to the need for new firm yield, which relates to meeting future demands of 3 C:lDocuments and Settings\vyp\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\OLKI50\MoffatSystem 1 00603 ,doc