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.. the Board could no longer take upon itself responsibility for the water supply future of a rapidly expanding Denver Metro Area. There were simply too many political, legal, economic and other constraints, and too few opportunities to develop significant new water supplies for the benefit of those outside its service area. . What the Board could do is focus on the build-out of its own "Combined Service AreaY That service area, consisting of the City and County of Denver plus 75 contractual distributors in its suburbs, would become the basis for the Board's long-range resource planning efforts. Figure I-I shows the Board's Combined Service Area. Providing for that service area remains the foremost obligation of Denver Water. Only secondarily would it look outside its service area boundary for potential efforts which might prove mutually beneficial to both Denver's service area and metro regions beyond. . . Geography and History: The Early Years The years before the 1970s were marked by relatively unbroken population and economic growth in the Denver Metro Area, and Denver's water system followed suit. With a semi-arid climate averaging only 15 inches of rainfall annually, it did not take long for early settlers to determine that to survive here, a way had to be found to store and divert water from the rivers and streams to where it could be used. As early as 1868, a "City Ditch" was being built to run from the South Platte River to the city. In 1873, work began on the High Line Canal, a water source linked to a private real estate venture. . . Diverting the raw water was not enough; it had to be treated to eliminate contaminants. Thus began Kassler Treatment Plant in 1890, the tirst English-style slow sand filter east of the Mississippi River. Treatment, in turn, necessitated some means of storing the water until it could be treated, leading to the construction first of Platte Canyon Reservoir, and then in 1903 Cheesman Reservoir, higher in the -South Platte Basin. . From 1868 to 19 I 8, water utility development in the city was divided among numerous private water entities characterized by in-fighting, price gouging, and unsavory competitive practices. While the private utilities laid a sound engineering base for a water supply system, their conflicts ultimately led Denver citizens to approve a city- owned water utility which would be non-political, autonomous from other city interests and agencies, and instructed by amendment to the city charter to charge the lowest rates possible consistent with good service. That mandate still shapes Denver's approach to water rate setting. . . Cheesman Reservoir was soon followed by other storage reservoirs and by tunnels to carry water to Denver. In order, they were: Antero Reservoir built in 1909 and acquired by Denver later in the 1920s; Eleven Mile Reservoir in 193 I; the Moffat Tunnel Collection System, also known as the Fraser System, in 1934; Williams Fork Reservoir in 1947 and enlarged in 1959; GumIick Tunnel in 1948; Gross Reservoir in 1954; Roberts Tunnel in 1959; Dillon Reservoir in 1963; and Strontia Springs Reservoir in . 2 .