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<br />Metropolitan Water Supply Investigation <br /> <br />Executive Summary <br /> <br />region is particularly interested in expanding the roles of reuse and conjunctive use of <br />surface and groundwater as ways to reduce its future use of Denver Basin groundwater. <br /> <br />The City of Aurora currently meets its water needs through a combination of changed <br />irrigation rights, transmountain diversions, alluvial and nontributary wells, water reuse <br />and water conservation. <br /> <br />Aurora has not yet projected an ultimate or build-out demand for its service area. Instead, <br />Aurora anticipates future population growth to average 50,000 people per decade with an <br />associated increase in water demands of 10,000 acre-feet per decade. Aurora therefore <br />projects a total water demand of95,000 acre-feet by the year 2030. Aurora has plans in <br />place to meet its projected year 2010 demands with acquired Arkansas basin agricultural <br />rights, additional effluent reuse, rehabilitation of its Cherry Creek alluvial wells, and <br />other minor projects. <br /> <br />Aurora's plans for meeting its needs beyond the year 2010 include the Eagle River <br />Conjunctive Use Project (in cooperation with the City of Colorado Springs), the South <br />Park Conjunctive Use Project, and additional water reuse. Aurora is participating in <br />cooperative planning activities of effluent management in the Northeast Metro sub-region <br />described below. Aurora is also working with Denver Water to explore cooperative <br />opportunities involving those entities' existing South Platte reservoirs. <br /> <br />The Northeast Metro Sub-rel!ion includes Thornton, South Adams County Water & <br />Sanitation District and Brighton. Also included in this sub-region are the irrigation <br />companies associated with the Burlington Ditch/Barr Lake system (the Barr Lake <br />Companies). The water supply sources currently available to municipal providers in this <br />sub-region include municipal and changed irrigation rights on the South Platte and Clear <br />Creek, alluvial and nontributary wells, and exchange rights. <br /> <br />The long-term municipal water demands for this sub-region are projected to be about <br />125,000 acre-feet per year. Most of this demand is associated with the build-out demands <br />of the City of Thornton. Providers in this sub-region have plans in place to meet between <br />60,000 to 100,000 acre-feet of this need. This range is due to uncertainties about the <br />ultimate degree of implementation and associated yield of Thornton' s Northern Project. <br /> <br />Current planning efforts are focused on meeting 20,000 to 40,000 acre-feet of the <br />remaining needs for this area, which are primarily associated with anticipated growth in <br />Brighton and the South Adams County Water and Sanitation District. Denver and Aurora <br />are also involved in these planning efforts because of their interest in water reuse <br />opportunities and because portions of their service areas are located in this sub-region. <br />Current planning efforts are focused on development of storage facilities, maximizing <br />exchanges and finding uses for Aurora's and Denver Water's presently undeveloped <br />supplies of reusable effluent. Providers are particularly interested in addressing water <br />quality problems associated with municipal diversions located downstream of most of the <br />urbanized metro Denver area. Options under consideration include development of <br />additional gravel pit storage capacity and use of storage capacity in Barr Lake and the <br />Beebe Draw under cooperative arrangements with the Barr Lake Companies. <br /> <br />Xli <br /> <br />Prepared for the Colorado Water ConservatIOn Board, Colorado Department of Natural Resources by <br />Hydrosphere Resource Consultants, iD02 Walnut Street, Suite 200, Boulder, CO 80302 <br />