PUB00053

• Year: 1999
• Title: Metropolitian Water Supply Investigation Final Report
• Author: Hydrosphere Resource Consultants
• Description: Metropolitian Water Supply Investigation Final Report
• Publications - Doc Type: Water Resource Studies

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Metropolitan Water Supply Investigation

MWSI Results

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The water supply sources currently available to this sub-region consist primarily of Clear
Creek municipal rights and changed irrigation rights, partial service contracts with
Denver Water, which are mostly satisfied via deliveries from the Moffat Tunnel
Collection System, and exchanges on Clear Creek, Ralston Creek and Big Dry Creek.
Most ofthe changed irrigation rights are associated with the Church Ditch, the Farmers
Highline Canal and the Standley and Marshall divisions ofFRICO.

3.1.6. Future Conditions

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As part of the Phase III of the MWSI, individual water providers presented summaries of
their future water supply plans during the regional brainstorming meetings. This
information was compiled and completed via follow-up discussions with individual
providers or reliance on existing published sources. Based on this inventory of water
supply plans currently in place, the future service area populations, expected future water
uses, and future water supply plans for South Platte Basin municipal water providers are
shown in Table 3. Only those future supplies judged to be reasonably certain are shown.
Water providers have a relatively high degree of confidence in their ability to develop
these supplies. Proposed water sources were grouped into the six categories of water
management strategies previously discussed. The planning horizons presented in this
table are as defined by individual providers. In some cases, these horizons correspond to
an ultimate or "build-out condition, while in other cases they refer to a certain date. No
attempt was made to reconcile individual providers' population projections with regional
or state population projections. The State of Colorado's population projections by water
supply service area region for the year 2020 are shown for comparison purposes.

It should be noted that providers' projections of future water needs and their plans to
meet those needs are not precisely known. There are several dimensions of uncertainty
involved in water supply planning related to permitting, costs, environmental impacts,
public acceptance and water rights issues. This uncertainty is one of the primary factors
behind the investigation of cooperative water supply concepts in the MWSI.

Table 3 shows that water providers in the South Platte Basin are currently planning to
meet the projected water demands of approximately 4,200,000 people. Most providers
are planning to meet the projected ultimate or 'build-out' water demands for their

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Prepared for the Colorado Water Conservation Board, Colorado Department of Natural Resources by
Hydrosphere Resource Consultants, 1002 Walnut Street, Suite 200, Boulder. CO 80302