Laserfiche WebLink
diversion capability from Chatfield directly into local water supply systems would also be <br />beneficial. However, the potential impacts of increased water supply use of Chatfield upon <br />wetlands, recreation and fisheries in the reservoir could be very significant. Any storage <br />reallocation or new diversion facilities should occur only if Denver and the Corps can protect <br />these values. <br />With regard to Denver's North End system improvements to increase dry year supply, Denver is <br />examining storage and nonstorage options and intends to begin the permitting process without <br />specifying a preferred option. Ultimately Denver should proceed in a manner that addresses <br />Fraser River basin water supply and instream flow problems as well as Front Range instream <br />flow problems in cooperation with local water users in each of these basins. <br />Possibly the region's largest untapped long -term water supply source is water reuse. By the year <br />2040, water providers in the central South Platte region are projected to generate over 120,000 <br />acre -feet per year of reusable return flows in excess of current reuse plans. This represents an <br />enormous water supply source, given its potential to be reused up to three times. Full use of this <br />water supply source (as required in Denver's case by the Blue River Decrees) will eventually <br />require additional storage below the Metro wastewater plant and expensive water treatment <br />requirements. Opportunities exist to realize both of these goals in cooperation with agricultural <br />interests in the Barr Lake and Beebe Draw areas north of Denver. <br />4. South Platte Basin — Northern Portion <br />One must preface any discussion of water development in the northern Front Range by noting <br />that over 800,000 acres of irrigated agriculture currently remain in this region. While urban <br />populations see irrigated agriculture as an open space amenity, it appears to have equal or greater <br />value as a relatively inexpensive water supply source to water providers. Consequently, while <br />water providers have proposed a variety of water storage projects in the region, large acquisitions <br />and transfers of irrigation water supplies to municipal use are actually occurring. <br />Nonetheless, there are reasons that justify some new projects. For example, firming up the yield <br />of the recently constructed Windy Gap project would realize the value of the original <br />investments made by Windy Gap project participants. Windy Gap water is also legally reusable <br />on the East Slope, which can effectively double or triple its yield via exchange and reuse plans. <br />Finally, firming up Windy Gap's yield would ease the pressure for further acquisition of South <br />Platte irrigation rights. <br />The South Platte Conservation Project has the important advantage of being able to be developed <br />in incremental fashion, which would minimize the financial risks of overbuilding ahead of <br />growth in M &I demands. It would also help develop Colorado's South Platte compact <br />entitlement without causing major problems for Platte River endangered species. In the context <br />of firming senior irrigation water rights for year -round municipal use it may prove to be a <br />reasonable investment, unlike storage designed to capture unappropriated water, the result of <br />which is very high storage to yield ratios and enormous costs. <br />Regarding the specific storage options being considered for these purposes, the enlargement of <br />Halligan Reservoir and new off - channel storage proposed at Chimney Rock and at Jasper North <br />Ell <br />