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District has the authority, among other powers, "to perform all acts and things necessary or <br />advisable to secure and insure an adequate supply of water, present and future, for irrigation, <br />mining, manufacturing, and domestic purposes within [the] district." § 37- 47- 107(1)(c), 10 <br />C.R.S. (2003). The Southwestern District is one of the sponsors of various U.S. Bureau of <br />Reclamation projects, including the Dolores and the Animas -La Plata Projects which permit <br />Colorado to enjoy the beneficial use of its compact - apportioned share of the Colorado River. <br />See, e.g., Animas -La Plata Project Compact, codified at § 37 -64 -101, 10 C.R.S. (2001). In <br />accordance with its statutory powers, the Southwestern District seeks to safeguard for Colorado <br />the waters of the San Juan and Dolores rivers and their tributaries in Southwest Colorado to <br />which the state of Colorado is equitably entitled. <br />The City and County of Denver, acting by and through its Board of Water <br />Commissioners ( "Water Board ") is a municipal corporation and political subdivision of the State <br />of Colorado, created in 1918 by an amendment to the charter of the City and County of Denver. <br />The Water Board has all the powers "granted by the Constitution and by the law of the State of <br />Colorado...in regard to ... operating a water works system...." Denver Charter, Article X. The <br />Water Board is authorized to operate a water works system, both inside and outside Denver, by <br />Section 1 of Article XX of the Colorado Constitution and by C.R.S. 31- 35- 402(1)(b). See <br />Bennett Bear Creek Farm Water and Sanitation District v. Denver, 928 P.2d 1254 (Colo. 1996). <br />The Water Board provides the sole source of municipal water supply to over a million people. In <br />order to maintain the high level of quality and dependability that the Water Board's customers <br />deserve, the Water Board needs certainty as well as flexibility in the operation of its system. The <br />Water Board operates numerous exchanges throughout its system and makes new appropriations <br />LI <br />