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City of Rifle Water Conservation Plan <br />Introduction <br />Background <br />Final Report -July 2008 <br />The City of Rifle (City) is located in western Garfield County, approximately 57 miles <br />east of Grand Junction along Interstate 70 at an elevation of approximately 5,400 feet. <br />The City of Rifle (City) is an existing home rule city, municipal corporation and political <br />subdivision under the provisions of Article XX of the Constitution of the State of <br />Colorado and the City's Home Rule Charter. Rifle was incorporated in 1905. The City is <br />governed by an elected seven-member council and managed by a City Manager hired by <br />the council. The City owns and operates its water and wastewater systems. <br />Rifle has been experiencing rapid growth over the past several years, a trend fueled by <br />economic growth in the Roaring Fork and Colorado River valleys and rapid expansion of <br />oil and gas production in Garfield County. The City's population has been growing <br />recently at an annual rate between 4 and 5%, and is currently estimated to exceed 8,800 <br />persons. Rifle's fast-paced growth is expected to continue for the foreseeable future, and <br />this growth has been putting significant pressure on the City's water and wastewater <br />infrastructure. From the City's perspective, a key driver for water conservation is to <br />reduce water demands to help ease this pressure, hopefully reducing and deferring <br />infrastructure expansions. <br />In the context of statewide water resources planning, the November 2004 Statewide <br />Water Supply Initiative (SWSI) Phase 1 Report identifies Rifle as being in the Colorado <br />River Basin. The SWSI Phase 1 Report projects the Colorado Basin to have: <br />~ the highest population growth rate (99%) of the eight major river basins over the <br />period 2000 to 203 0 <br />• a gross water demand increase over the period of 61,900 ac-ftlyr (3rd out of 8) <br />• a projected municipal/industrial and self supplied industrial demand "gap" of 5% <br />(3,000 ac-ftlyr). <br />It is important to note that explosive population and water demand growth, beyond that <br />projected by SWSI is possible; Rifle is located at the epi-center of current oil shale <br />extraction research and possible future full-scale commercial production. SWSI did not <br />consider potential future self supplied industrial water demands associated with oil shale <br />extraction that may be placed on the Colorado River and White River basins. Page 3-16 <br />of the SWSI report makes only a reference to a possible 450,000 ac-ftlyr water need to <br />support a 3 million barrel per day oil industry. <br />Purpose <br />The Colorado Water Conservation Act of 2004 (HB 04-1365) requires that any water <br />provider with annual retail water deliveries in excess of 2,000 acre-feet develop a <br />Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB)-approved Water Conservation Plan. <br />These "covered entities" are required to have an approved plan in place to maintain <br />eligibility for financial assistance from CWCB or the Colorado Water and Power <br />Authority for water and wastewater infrastructure projects. With its current water usage <br />and rapid growth, the City of Rifle (City) is anticipated to exceed 2,000 ac-ft of retail <br />water delivery in the next year, or so. Thus, these statutory requirements provided the <br />initial impetus for the development of this plan. Entities which have completed an <br />SGM # 99055A-388 5 Introduction <br />