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District has the authority, among other powers, "to perform all acts and things necessary or <br />advisable to seciaze and insure an adequate supply of water, presenl: and future, for irrigation, <br />mining, manufacturing, and domestic purposes within [the] district." § 37-47-10; (1)(c), 10 <br />C.R.S. (2003). 'I'he Southwestern District is one of the sponsors of various U.S. :Bureau of <br />Reclamation projects, including the Dolores and the Animas-La Plata Projects which permit <br />Colorado to enjoy the beneficial use of its compact-apportioned share of the Colorado River. <br />See, e.g., Animas-La Plata Project Compact, codified at § 37-64-101, 10 C.R.S. (2001). In <br />accordance witYi its statutory powers, the Southwestern District seeks to safeguard for Colorado <br />the waters of the San Juan and Dolores rivers and their tributaries in Southwest C'olorado to <br />which the state of Colorado is equitably entitled. <br />The City and County of Denver, acting by and through its goard of Water. <br />Commissioners ("Water Board") is a municipal corporation and political subdivision of the State <br />of Colorado, cr,,-ated in 1918 by an amendment to the charter of the City and County of Denver. <br />The Water Board has all the powers "granted by the Constitution and by the law of the State of <br />Colorado...in regard to ... operating a water works system...." Denver Charter, Article X. The <br />Water Board is authorized to operate a water works system, both inside and outside Denver, by <br />Section 1 of Aiticle XX of the Colorado Constitution and by C.R.S. 31-35-402(1)(b). See <br />Bennett Bear C'reek Farm Water and Sanitation District v. Denver, 928 P.2d 12' 54 (Colo. 1996). <br />The Water Board provides the sole source of municipal water supply to over a rnillion people. In <br />order to maintain the high level of quality and dependability that the Water Boasd's customers <br />deserve, the Water Board needs certainty as we11 as flexibility in the operation of its system. The <br />Water Board operates numerous exchanges throughout its system and makes new appropriations <br />4