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Metropolitan Water Supply Investigation Executive Summary <br /> region is particularly interested in expanding the roles of reuse and conjunctive use of <br /> surface and groundwater as ways to reduce its future use of Denver Basin groundwater. <br /> The City of Aurora currently meets its water needs through a combination of changed <br /> irrigation rights,transmountain diversions, alluvial and nontributary wells,water reuse <br /> and water conservation. <br /> Aurora has not yet projected an ultimate or build-out demand for its service area. Instead, <br /> Aurora anticipates future population growth to average 50,000 people per decade with an <br /> associated increase in water demands of 10,000 acre-feet per decade. Aurora therefore <br /> projects a total water demand of 95,000 acre-feet by the year 2030. Aurora has plans in _ <br /> place to meet its projected year 2010 demands with acquired Arkansas basin agricultural <br /> rights, additional effluent reuse, rehabilitation of its Cherry Creek alluvial wells, and <br /> other minor projects. <br /> Aurora's plans for meeting its needs beyond the year 2010 include the Eagle River <br /> Conjunctive Use Project (in cooperation with the City of Colorado Springs), the South <br /> Park Conjunctive Use Project, and additional water reuse. Aurora is participating in <br /> cooperative planning activities of effluent management in the Northeast Metro sub-region <br /> described below. Aurora is also working with Denver Water to explore cooperative <br /> opportunities involving those entities' existing South Platte reservoirs. <br /> The Northeast Metro Sub-region includes Thornton, South Adams County Water& <br /> Sanitation District and Brighton. Also included in this sub-region are the irrigation <br /> companies associated with the Burlington Ditch/Barr Lake system (the Barr Lake <br /> Companies). The water supply sources currently available to municipal providers in this <br /> sub-region include municipal and changed irrigation rights on the South Platte and Clear <br /> Creek, alluvial and nontributary wells, and exchange rights. <br /> The long-term municipal water demands for this sub-region are projected to be about <br /> 125,000 acre-feet per year. Most of this demand is associated with the build-out demands <br /> of the City of Thornton. Providers in this sub-region have plans in place to meet between <br /> 60,000 to 100,000 acre-feet of this need. This range is due to uncertainties about the <br /> ultimate degree of implementation and associated yield of Thornton's Northern Project. <br /> Current planning efforts are focused on meeting 20,000 to 40,000 acre-feet of the <br /> remaining needs for this area, which are primarily associated with anticipated growth in <br /> Brighton and the South Adams County Water and Sanitation District. Denver and Aurora <br /> are also involved in these planning efforts because of their interest in water reuse <br /> opportunities and because portions of their service areas are located in this sub-region. <br /> Current planning efforts are focused on development of storage facilities,maximizing <br /> exchanges and finding uses for Aurora's and Denver Water's presently undeveloped <br /> supplies of reusable effluent. Providers are particularly interested in addressing water <br /> quality problems associated with municipal diversions located downstream of most of the <br /> urbanized metro Denver area. Options under consideration include development of <br /> additional gravel pit storage capacity and use of storage capacity in Barr Lake and the <br /> Beebe Draw under cooperative arrangements with the Barr Lake Companies. <br /> xii <br /> Prepared for the Colorado Water Conservation Board,Colorado Department of Natural Resources by <br /> Hydrosphere Resource Consultants,1002 Walnut Street,Suite 200,Boulder,CO 80302 <br />