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BACKGROUND INFORMATION <br />The City of Boulder is located along Boulder Creek and constitutes the largest municipal entity <br />within Water Division 1, Water District 6. Boulder diverts its municipal water supply from <br />North Boulder Creek, Middle Boulder Creek and Main Boulder Creek. Boulder also receives <br />water from the Colorado-Big Thompson and Windy Gap Projects. <br />The City of Boulder municipal water system formally began in 1874 when Town Trustees voted <br />to construct a publicly owned water works. The first City facilities were developed in 1875 with <br />construction of the Town of Boulder Ditch, located approximately one-half mile upstream of the <br />mouth of Boulder Canyon. In order to supplement the supply from the Town Ditch, Boulder <br />soon began acquiring rights in more senior agricultural direct flow rights, and developing <br />additional storage. <br />Water pollution resulting from mining activities in and around Boulder Canyon eventually led <br />the City to move diversion facilities to higher locations on Boulder Creek and North Boulder <br />Creek. The City also began acquiring ownership of the reservoirs located in the headwaters of <br />North Boulder Creek (what was to become known as the City's Siver Lake Watershed). By the <br />early 1900s, the City constructed the Silver Lake Pipeline and the Lakewood Pipeline to convey <br />high quality water diverted from upper North Boulder Creek to the City. <br />Following a drought period during the mid-1950s, Boulder recognized that further development <br />of its municipal water system was needed. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the City acquired <br />additional water on Middle Boulder Creek via agreements with Public Service Company (PSCo) <br />for use of storage in PSCo owned Barker Meadow Reservoir. By 1965 the City completed <br />construction of the Betasso Water Treatment Plant and an extension of the Barker Gravity <br />Pipeline to convey water from PSCo's hydroelectric facility on Middle Boulder Creek to the <br />Betasso Plant. The Betasso Plant can also receive water via the Lakewood Pipeline. <br />In 1953 the City joined the Northern Colorado Water Conservation District, which had been <br />formed to build the Colorado-Big Thompson (C-BT) Project, and worked with the District to <br />construct Boulder Reservoir in 1955. Boulder later joined with several other municipalities to <br />develop the Windy Gap Project, which utilizes many of the same facilities as the C-BT Project to <br />bring water from the Western Slope of Colorado to the Front Range. <br />In the late 1950s the City began to exchange its water supplies from the C-BT Project to satisfy <br />downstream senior water rights in order to make full use of the physical supplies at its upper <br />intake points. This ability to implement these exchanges is now of vital importance to the City <br />since it allows the full use of the physical supply at its upper intakes. Construction of additional <br />raw water treatment facilities were completed at Boulder Reservoir by about 1976. <br />In the late 1960s and early 1970s, population growth in the City began to slow as a result of <br />changes in regional immigration patterns and economic conditions, and the City's enactment of <br />various growth limitation policies, including purchases of land for dedication as open space. The <br />City is currently in a surplus situation with respect to water rights and holds sufficient water <br />rights to meet their projected build-out population. <br />City of Boulder Memo.Doc Page 2 of 30 March 9, 2005 <br />