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of water depending upon the circumstance. Proliferation of recreational water rights that <br />command the entire flow of a river could seriously impede the Water Board's ability to operate <br />exchanges and appropriate water to keep up with the growing municipal demand. <br />Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District ( "Southeastern") is a statutory water <br />conservancy district, created pursuant to the provisions of C.R.S. 37 -45 -101 et seq, which <br />includes within its boundaries most of the municipalities and irrigated land in the Arkansas River <br />Valley. Southeastern has participated in numerous proceedings in this Court relating to water <br />issues, both as a party and as amicus. Southeastern holds the water rights for the Fryingpan- <br />Arkansas Project, a $550 million project authorized by Congress and built by the U.S. Bureau of <br />Reclamation under contract with Southeastern, which diverts water underneath the Continental <br />Divide, from the Fryingpan and Roaring Fork River drainages, into the Arkansas River drainage, <br />where Project water is stored in reservoirs. Southeastern provides Project water and return flows <br />to supplement the decreed water rights of water users throughout the District. The current <br />population of Southeastern's nine- county service area is approximately 620,000. That number is <br />expected to increase to more than 1.5 million by the year 2040. In an effort to prepare for the <br />water needs of the growing population in the Arkansas River basin and to help sustain water <br />supplies for agricultural use, Southeastern with participation from other Arkansas basin water <br />providers, initiated the PSOP in 1999. The PSOP Report, published September 21, 2000, <br />analyzed various options to meet the year 2040 water demand. The plan contemplates both <br />changed operations of existing Fryingpan - Arkansas Project reservoirs, as well as enlargement of <br />Pueblo and Turquoise Reservoirs. PSOP participants, as well as Southeastern, will rely on the <br />ability to exchange water into the re- operated and enlarged Fzyingpan- Arkansas Project <br />