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M,etropolitan Water Supply Investigation MWSI Results I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I w~ter rights in the North Region and transfer them to municipal use outside ofthe North region, A recent example is the City of Thornton's Northern Project. 3.1.1.3. South Service Area Region This region consists of portions of Douglas County and that part of Arapahoe County not served by Aurora. The region includes sixteen water providers including Parker Water & Sanitation District, Centennial Water & Sanitation District, the Town of Castle Rock, East Cherry Creek Water & Sanitation District and several smaller water districts. These providers are members of the Douglas County Water Resource Authority (DCWRA), formed by Douglas County for the purpose of facilitating cooperative regional water supply planning for the region. The region is situated directly over the most productive portion of the Denver Basin aquifer system. Conversely, the region is characterized by relatively little surface water availability, Significant urban development in this region began approximately 20 years ago. By this time most of the flow of the South Platte River had already been appropriated. The region's other major surface tributaries, Cherry Creek and Plum Creek, have relatively small and erratic flows. Consequently most ofthe region's water providers rely on nontributary Denver Basin groundwater as their sole or principal supply. During recent years, the DCWRA and its individual water provider members, in cooperation with local government, have been working to minimize their long-term reliance on Denver Basin groundwater through open space and land use planning efforts and implementation of reuse and augmentation plans. 3.1.2. Water Source Regions Municipal water supplies for the metro Denver area are currently obtained from three distinct water source regions: the South Platte River basin (including the Denver Basin aquifers), the Colorado River basin and the Arkansas River basin as shown in Figure 1. Metro Denver area providers will continue to look to each of these three source regions for their future supplies. ' 3.1.2.1. South Platte River Basin Metro Denver area providers obtain approximately 60% of their water supplies from the South Platte River basin. These include municipal direct flow rights and storage rights, changed irrigation rights, Denver Basin groundwater and alluvial groundwater rights, and reuse of water from South Platte rights. Irrigation rights were first changed to municipal use as irrigated lands within the metro Denver area became urbanized. More recently, irrigation rights have been acquired from more distant areas, including the South Park region of the upper South Platte Basin, portions ofthe Big Dry Creek basin and South Platte Basin in Adams and southern Weld Counties, and the Cache La Poudre basin in northern Weld County. 18 Prepared for the Colorado Water Conservation Board, Colorado Department of Natural Resources by J..Iv.-lrn~nh...... Rf"~n"r"" rnnt:IlIt"'nh: Inn? W",lnllt ~trP..t ~llitf' ?on Rnllltif'T. ro Ro010?