Laserfiche WebLink
Metropolitan Water Supply Investigation Executive Summary <br /> Executive Summary <br /> The Metropolitan Water Supply Investigation (MWSI)was initiated by Governor Romer <br /> and the Colorado General Assembly in 1993 to explore cooperative solutions to future <br /> metropolitan Denver area water supply needs that would minimize the conflicts often <br /> associated with development of large scale water supply infrastructure such as transbasin <br /> diversion projects. The primary focus of the MWSI was the analysis of supply-side <br /> options involving the cooperative use, operation and/or linkage of existing water supply <br /> systems in a manner that would enhance water yields. By design, the MWSI did not - <br /> explore new water development projects involving significant new infrastructure, nor did <br /> it examine the potential savings from additional water conservation programs. <br /> The MWSI identified and evaluated cooperative water supply options in four primary <br /> categories: <br /> • conjunctive use <br /> • effluent management <br /> • interruptible supply arrangements <br /> • other system integration opportunities <br /> The MWSI demonstrates that cooperative water supply options exist with respect to <br /> conjunctive use, effluent management, and other system integration opportunities to help <br /> meet a large part of the anticipated future needs in the major geographic sub-regions' of <br /> the metropolitan Denver area. For several reasons, interruptible supply arrangements <br /> between farmers and cities appear less promising at this point in time. <br /> The cooperative options, as examined in this investigation, would not require <br /> construction of new transbasin diversion facilities, though additional transbasin <br /> diversions using existing facilities and water rights could be necessary to fully realize the <br /> potential of conjunctive use in the South metro sub-region and other system integration <br /> options available to the Northwest metro sub-region. Reusable return flows associated <br /> with increased transmountian diversions in turn help to expand cooperative options in the <br /> area of effluent management. Improvements to the existing water storage and <br /> distribution infrastructure serving the metropolitan area would be necessary,but such <br /> improvements would not entail major new on-stream reservoirs. <br /> For purposes of understanding how cooperative water supply options can function,the metro Denver area is best <br /> viewed as a collection of geographic sub-regions defined by their primary sources of supply. These sub-regions are <br /> referred to in this report as the Denver Central,the South metro,the City of Aurora,Northeast metro,and Northwest <br /> metro. Cooperative water supply options vary between sub-regions due to each region's unique water supplies and <br /> water development history. <br /> vii <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 />