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11 <br /> Native South Platte Flows (Surface and Underground) .Generally, new development <br /> of South Platte flows will be in wet years during portions of the spring runoff, and <br /> will involve surface or underground storage. Development of this source will deplete <br /> the river when water is stored, and add water to the river from return flows after <br /> use. <br /> Transmountain Diversions. Return flows from Colorado River Basin imports <br /> enhance South Platte River flows. <br /> Non-tributary Groundwater. Large amounts of water are withdrawn from the <br /> Arapahoe and Larimie-Fox Hills formations of the Denver Basin aquifer. Return <br /> flows enhance South Platte River flows. <br /> Conservation. Conservation will become increasingly important to Front Range <br /> municipal water providers. However, conservation will have no net effect on <br /> downstream river flows. <br /> Wastewater Exchange and Reuse. Water providers who develop non-tributary <br /> groundwater and transbasin water supplies have the right to reuse that water under <br /> Colorado law. Although as a practical matter these water providers will never put <br /> this water to 100 percent consumptive use, reuse and exchange programs will <br /> deplete river flows. <br /> Changes in Use. As urban demands increase, agricultural land will be taken out of <br /> production and irrigation rights transferred to domestic use. Under Colorado law, <br /> such changes can be made only if no injury to downstream water rights will result. <br /> Generally, the change in use from irrigation to municipal leaves some additional <br /> water in the river. <br /> • The Colorado program makes assumptions where new population will locate in the Front <br /> Range. The program then looks at the sources of water that will likely be developed by major <br /> water providers to serve that new population imposes transit loss factors, and predicts how the <br /> development of those sources of supply will, in the aggregate, affect South Platte River flows <br /> at the state line. <br /> As new people move to the Front Range, South Platte flows will increase in the fall,winter and <br /> spring, and decrease in the summer. To mitigate this effect, Colorado will implement new <br /> water regulation projects, like the Tamarack project, to shift river flows back to the summer <br /> period. The size of these projects will be calculated based on new population increases in the <br /> Front Range. On an order of magnitude, about 1,800 acre feet of water will need to be <br /> reregulated for each 100,000 people moving into the Front Range. <br />