SPDSS_Task5_KeyMuniUser_Aurora

• Title: SPDSS Task 5 - Key Municipal User, City of Aurora
• Description: The City of Aurora has been identified as a key municipal user for the South Platte Decision Support System ‎(SPDSS)‎ consumptive use and surface water modeling efforts. The purpose of this Task 5 memorandum is to document physical, legal, and operational aspects of those key structures identified.
• Decision Support - Doc Type: Task Memorandum
• Date: 6/13/2006
• DSS Category: Surface Water
• DSS: South Platte
• Basin: South Platte
• Contract/PO #: C153954
• Grant Type: Non-Reimbursable
• Bill Number: SB01-157, HB02-1152, SB03-110, HB04-1221, SB05-084, HB06-1313, SB07-122
• Prepared By: Leonard Rice Engineering

HydroBase Data
Currently, Aurora owns and maintains the accounting gages referenced in this memo. Only three
out of nineteen accounting gages have historic streamflow records available in Hydrobase,
although the State is looking into publishing this data annually. Historic streamflow records for
the other administration gages should be collected from Aurora to facilitate the modeling of the
changed water rights.
2) Homestake Pipeline (Structure ID 2304490)
Aurora`s water sources from the Arkansas and Colorado
River Basins are transported through the Otero Pumping
Station and Homestake Pipeline to just upstream of
Spinney Mtn Reservoir in the South Platte River Basin.
Transported sources include interest in the following
systems: Homestake, Twin Lakes, Busk-Ivanhoe,
Burroughs Ranch, Rocky Ford Ditch, Colorado Canal,
and Buffalo Park and Hayden/Spurlin-Shaw Ranches.
As a transmountain diversion system, more detailed information on the Homestake Pipeline may
be found in the Task SMemorandum -Key Structure, Homestake Pipeline. Present capacity of
the Homestake Pipeline is 118.5 million gallons per day (mgd). Aurora's owns 49 mgd capacity
in the pipeline while the remaining 69.5 mgd is owned by Colorado Springs. A carriage
agreement between the owners allows either entity to use more of the pipeline capacity if the
other entity is not using it.
HydroBase Data
In addition to six years (1973, 1975, 1979-1982) of administrative water commissioner records
for Homestake (Structure 2304490) contained in HydroBase, HydroBase also contains records
for two gages related to this structure. HydroBase contains three years (1981, 1982 and 1999) of
diversions for the Homestake Pipeline deliveries upstream of Eleven Mile Reservoir [Station
AHOMPLCO (aka 07086300)] and three years (2000-present) of diversions from Station
HOMSPICO (no WDID) upstream of Spinney Mountain Reservoir. State records are available
on a monthly and daily period. Aurora provided monthly electronic records back though 1989
and provided access to operational records on paper back to 1971. The 1989-1999 monthly data
have been forwarded to the Division of Water Resources (DWR) database administrator for
inclusion into HydroBase (LRE NEED TO DO THIS). Daily data is understood to be available
electronically from Aurora starting in 1989. Aurora is implementing a digitization effort of
historic records and daily diversions records prior to 1989 and those records will likely become
available within several years. The combination of Aurora data before 2000 and the
HOMSPICO gage data from 2000 to present is recommended for use in the SPDSS model.
Discussion of these records and the adopted long term data record (from Aurora) may be found
in the Task 5 Memorandum on Homestake Pipeline referenced above.
City of Aurora Operating Memorandum 6 of 29
Figure 2 -Otero Pumping Plant -
Photo source: http://co.water.usgs.gov/projects/
TurgLake/htmUhomestake reservoir.htm