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However, this information should not be relied upon in any legal proceeding. <br />SYSTEM OVERVIEW <br />The Colorado-Big Thompson Project is the largest transmountain water diversion project in <br />Colorado. Operated and maintained by the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and the <br />Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, the C-BT Project is one of the most complex <br />water collection and distribution systems ever constructed by Reclamation. <br />The C-BT Project is designed to store, collect and deliver up to 310,000 ac-ft of water annually <br />from the upper headwaters of the Colorado River basin west of the Continental Divide. The <br />historic annual diversions since all project features have been in place (since 1957) are <br />approximately 216,000 ac-ft. C-BT water flows through the 13-mile long Alva B. Adams Tunnel <br />to supplement northeastern Colorado's native water supplies. The C-BT Project provides water <br />to approximately 620,000 acres of irrigated cropland, and for municipal and industrial purposes <br />within the District and its Municipal Subdistrict (see Figure 1). The Municipal Subdistrict <br />consists of 13 municipalities and water supplier and who are participants in the Windy Gap <br />Project. Windy Gap uses existing C-BT facilities to transport water to those participants. C-BT <br />water and Windy Gap water also generate hydroelectric power and provides numerous <br />recreational opportunities. <br />NCWCD allottees contract with the District to use C-BT water. Allottees include 32 cities and <br />towns, nearly 1,800 individual users and more than 120 ditch, reservoir and irrigation companies. <br />The District encompasses approximately 1.5 million acres in portions of Boulder, Larimer, Weld, <br />Broomfield, Morgan, Logan, Washington, and Sedgwick counties, as shown on Figure 1. The <br />District's population has more than quadrupled since C-BT Project completion in 1957. The <br />current (2004) population within District boundaries is approximately 750,000. <br />The District water delivery season runs from April 1 through October 31. However, some <br />municipal and industrial entities receive C-BT water year-round through the District's winter <br />delivery program, the recently constructed Southern Water Supply Project and the Pleasant <br />Valley Pipeline. These allottees take water directly from the C-BT Project's East Slope storage <br />reservoirs. Few entities located downstream of the Cache la Poudre River -South Platte River <br />confluence receive C-BT water directly. <br />Pursuant to Article 19 of the Repayment Contract, all C-BT return flows are claimed and <br />reserved for use within District boundaries. This requirement provides considerably more water <br />in the lower South Platte River basin than would otherwise be available. The uses of C-BT water <br />within the District and the amount and timing of C-BT return flows has changed over time and <br />reflects the ownership trends from agricultural to municipal interests in the basin. <br />Key structures identified in the C-BT Project exist within both the South Platte River basin and <br />Upper Colorado River basin. An overview of the collection system along the western slope is <br />included herein. More detailed information regarding these components can be found in the <br />documentation for the CDSS Upper Colorado River Basin Water Resources Planning Model, <br />available at http://cdss.state.co.us. Determination of which the western slope components, if any, <br />2of17 <br />