PUB00048

• Year: 1992
• Title: Systems Integration as a Water Supply Source for the Denver Metropolitan Area
• CWCB Section: Water Conservation & Drought Planning
• Author: Hydrosphere Resource Consultants
• Description: Overview of water supply alternatives and suggestion for process to address future water supply needs of the Denver Metro Area
• Publications - Doc Type: Historical

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DRAFT 8/24/92, P.1ge 23

Fort Lyon shareholders, the company continues to be interested in marketing this water a
significant amount of water from the Fort Lyon system.

Issues to be addressed

The issues associated the transfer of additional agricultural water out of the Arkansas
River to the metro Denver are the same as those identified above under the discussion of
conventional purchase and dry-up of irrigated lands. In summary these concerns include the
lack of a planned approach that preserves irrigation of the most productive lands and addresses
potential socio-economic impacts on local farm-based communities.

b. Gravity Raw Water Pipeline from Carter Lake to North Metro Denver

Much of the South Platte basin lies north of the Metro Denver area within the Boulder,
St. Vrain, Big Thompson and Cache La Poudre basins. This area produces an average of
700,000 acre feet of native surface water annually, and receives an additional 300,000 acre feet
of supplemental supply from the Colorado and North Platte basins. About 15% of this I
million acre feet of high quality supply is used for municipal and industrial purposes, about
80% is used for agriculture and about 5% flows into the mainstem of the South Platte.

Water management practices within this area are heavily influenced by the Northern
Colorado Water Conservancy District and the Colorado-Big Thompson/Windy Gap project
system, which provide for great flexibility in the delivery of supplemental supplies throughout
the area. West Slope water can be delivered from as far north as Fort Collins to as far south
as Boulder, and markets exist for transfer of supplemental water throughout the region. This
in turn facilitates the maximization of use of native water supplies in each of the tributaries.

The southern end of this Northern area adjoins the northern portion of the Metro Denver
area, and several Metro Denver communities have looked to the North as a potential future
source of water supply.

It is this combination of water management flexibility and proximity to Denver that
provides for system integration opportunities involving the North. Building a physical linkage
for water delivery from the North to Metro Denver could provide significant benefits to metro
Denver, the West Slope and the Northern region.

A gravity pipeline connection from the Northern area to Metro Denver could provide a
way to meet a portion of future Metro Denver demands with excess Northern supplies. This
pipeline could also provide opportunities for increasing overall system yield and operational
flexibility and achieving West Slope water quality and instream flow benefits.

The Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District is currently planning for the
construction of such a pipeline from Carter Lake to the north Metro Denver area. Currently
the main purpose of this facility will be to deliver water to the Cities of Broomfield and
Superior, which have recently purchased Windy Gap water from Boulder, Estes Park and
Greeley.

This pipeline could have other major benefits. It could deliver additional water supplies
to other communities located in the Boulder and southern Weld County areas and the north
Metro Denver area. This possibility has recently been studied by the Northern Colorado
Water Conservancy District and Municipal Subdistrict.