7777

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7777
• Author: Ward, R. C.
• Title: Proceedings 1993 Colorado Water Convention, Front Range Water Alternatives and Transfer of Water from One Area of the State to Another, January 4-5, 1993, Denver, Colorado.
• USFW Year: 1993.
• USFW - Doc Type: \
• Copyright Material: NO

1993 Colorado Water Convention

DENVER'S ROLE IN DEVELOPING FUTtJRE WATER SUPPLIES FOR THE
Front Ranqe AREA IN THE POST-TWO FORKS ERA

Mayor Wellington E. Webb
Denver

IN'1'RODtJCTION

I appreciate the opportunity to speak to all of you about
Denver's role in developing future water supplies for the Front Range.
I believe that a conference such as this is helpful in understanding
the myriad of issues involved in providing water to the Front Range.
This conference offers a neutral forum for the many parties to discuss
their various objectives, plans, and proposals.

In a spirit of cooperation rather than confrontation, it is my
hope that through this conference an open and frank exchange of ideas
will help us mutually find solutions to present and future water
problems. I hope that the Metro area can move ahead as one cohesive,
economically-integrated Metropolitan community. I will suggest how
Denver can assist in reaching this objective. I will talk about
Denver's historic role, how external events have changed that role,
how we can cooperate in the future, and steps we are taking in the
area of water conservation, which I view as an integral part of our
water supply system.

HISTORIC ROLE OF DENVER

In 1918, the citizens of Denver purchased a private water company
and created the Denver Water Board. Its primary purpose has always
been to meet the water needs of the City and County of Denver. Denver
acquired water rights, designed and built storage transmission and
treatment facilities, and negotiated arrangements to divert from other
basins, augmenting the natural but limited supplies available from the
South Platte Basin. Denver residents and ratepayers have stood behind
the general obligation bonds that financed those expansions.

Denver citizens gave their Water Board the authority to sell
surplus water outside the boundaries of the City and County from its
very inception. After World War II, when suburban communities began
to grow at a much faster pace, the authority to sell water outside of
the City and County was amended to allow multi-year contracts. With
the construction of Dillon Dam in the early '60s, Denver had a large
amount of water surplus and marketed that water freely throughout the
Metro area.

However, neither the Water Board nor Denver citizens ever forgot
that its primary obligation and reason for existence is to serve the
water needs of the City and County. Our contracts with suburban
distributors all reflect that obligation and provide for preferential
treatment of inside Denver customers. The sheer size and magnitude of
the Denver water system may have caused some observers to believe that
Denver had accepted a mission or received a mandate to become the

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