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<br />3.1 Great Western Reservoir Replacement Proiect <br /> <br />In 1990, an agreement was negotiated between the Department of Energy <br />(DOE) and the City of Broomfield, wherein DOE would provide funds to allow <br />Broomfield to abandon Great Western Reservoir as a drinking water supply and <br />develop an alternate water source, This $72 million project, known as the Great <br />Western Reservoir Replacement Project (GWRRP), is 70% funded by the <br />Department of Energy and 30% funded by the sale of Broomfield's Church Ditch <br />water rights, <br /> <br />The replacement drinking water supply purchased for the Great Western <br />Reservoir Replacement Project originates from the Windy Gap Project on the <br />Fraser River near Granby, Colorado, Windy Gap is a western slope diversion <br />delivered to Carter Lake through the Colorado-Big Thompson system, The new <br />water supply will reach Broomfield through a 38 mile pipeline from Carter Lake <br />to a new 8 MGD water treatment facility at 144th Ave, and Lowell Blvd, The <br />GWRRP project, targeted for completion in mid-1997, will permanently sever any <br />physical connection between Rocky Flats and Broomfield's drinking water <br />supply, <br /> <br />3.2 Future Use of Great Western Reservoir <br /> <br />An additional condition of the DOE grant is that use of Great Western Reservoir <br />as a drinking water supply be forever restricted, The future of Great Western <br />Reservoir after completion of the water replacement project is under <br />consideration. Broomfield's financial contribution to the project re~uired the sale <br />of the City's Church Ditch water rights, This transaction was finalized in October <br />1995, and will become effective upon completion of the project in the spring of <br />1997, After that time, the primary source of water for the reservoir will no longer <br />be available, Broomfield's only remaining upstream rights, on Coal Creek and <br />Walnut Creek, are inadequate to maintain the reservoir in its current condition, <br />(Based on deliveries from 1982 through 1988, the yield from Coal Creek ranges <br />------.---.-TromLJto 700 acre-feet per year, and averages approximaTely 400 acre-feet per-- <br />year. Walnut Creek may yield an additional 300 acre-feet annually,) With this <br />limited supply of raw water, it is possible that in some years the reservoir may <br />dry up. <br /> <br />Consideration was given to simply abandoning the reservoir for any use, <br />possibly breaching the dam, grading, and revegetating the site, However, the <br />City believes that an existing Front Range reservoir is an asset, both as an <br />amenity and a storage facility. The city is working on a plan to pump treated <br />wastewater effluent to the reservoir to help maintain a water pool. Great Western <br />Reservoir would then become the storage component of a non-potable reuse <br />system. <br /> <br />9 <br />