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Metropolitan Water Supply Investigation MWSI Results <br /> water rights in the North Region and transfer them to municipal use outside of the North <br /> region. A recent example is the City of Thornton's Northern Project. <br /> 3.1.1.3. South Service Area Region <br /> This region consists of portions of Douglas County and that part of Arapahoe County not <br /> served by Aurora. The region includes sixteen water providers including Parker Water& <br /> Sanitation District, Centennial Water& Sanitation District, the Town of Castle Rock, <br /> East Cherry Creek Water& Sanitation District and several smaller water districts. These <br /> providers are members of the Douglas County Water Resource Authority (DCWRA), <br /> formed by Douglas County for the purpose of facilitating cooperative regional water <br /> supply planning for the region. The region is situated directly over the most productive <br /> portion of the Denver Basin aquifer system. Conversely, the region is characterized by <br /> relatively little surface water availability. <br /> Significant urban development in this region began approximately 20 years ago. By this <br /> time most of the flow of the South Platte River had already been appropriated. The <br /> region's other major surface tributaries, Cherry Creek and Plum Creek, have relatively <br /> small and erratic flows. Consequently most of the region's water providers rely on <br /> nontributary Denver Basin groundwater as their sole or principal supply. During recent <br /> years, the DCWRA and its individual water provider members, in cooperation with local <br /> government, have been working to minimize their long-term reliance on Denver Basin <br /> groundwater through open space and land use planning efforts and implementation of <br /> reuse and augmentation plans. <br /> 3.1 .2. Water Source Regions <br /> Municipal water supplies for the metro Denver area are currently obtained from three <br /> distinct water source regions: the South Platte River basin(including the Denver Basin <br /> aquifers), the Colorado River basin and the Arkansas River basin as shown in Figure 1. <br /> Metro Denver area providers will continue to look to each of these three source regions <br /> for their future supplies. <br /> 3.1.2.1. South Platte River Basin <br /> Metro Denver area providers obtain approximately 60% of their water supplies from the <br /> South Platte River basin. These include municipal direct flow rights and storage rights, <br /> changed irrigation rights,Denver Basin groundwater and alluvial groundwater rights, and <br /> reuse of water from South Platte rights. Irrigation rights were first changed to municipal <br /> use as irrigated lands within the metro Denver area became urbanized. More recently, <br /> irrigation rights have been acquired from more distant areas, including the South Park <br /> region of the upper South Platte Basin,portions of the Big Dry Creek basin and South <br /> Platte Basin in Adams and southern Weld Counties, and the Cache La Poudre basin in <br /> northern Weld County. <br /> 18 <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 />