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<br />'. <br /> <br />. <br />. <br /> <br />-- <br /> <br />,,:. <br />,,' <br />~,-;I <br /> <br />Metropolitan Water Supply Investigation <br /> <br />Executive SummarY <br /> <br />Executive Summary <br /> <br />The Metropolitan Water Supply Investigation (MWSI) was initiated by Governor Romer <br />and the Colorado General Assembly in 1993 to explore cooperative solutions to future <br />metropolitan Denver area water supply needs that would minimize the conflicts often <br />associated with development of large scale water supply infrastructure such as transbasin <br />diversion projects, The primary focus of the MWSI was the analysis of supply-side <br />options involving the cooperative use, operation and/or linkage of existing water supply <br />systems in a manner that would enhance water yields.. By design, the MWSI did not <br />explore new water development projects involving significant new infrastructure, nor did <br />it examine the potential savings from additional water conservation programs. <br /> <br />The MWSI identified and evaluated cooperative water supply options in four primary <br />categories: <br /> <br />. conjunctive use <br /> <br />. effluent management <br /> <br />. interruptible supply arrangements <br /> <br />. other system integration opportunities <br /> <br />The MWSI demonstrates that cooperative water supply options exist with respect to <br />conjunctive use, effluent management, and other system integration opportunities to help <br /> <br />meet a large part of the anticipated future needs in the major geographic sub-regions 1 of <br />the metropolitan Denver area. Far several reasons, interruptible supply arrangements <br />between fanners and cities appea: less promising at this point in time. <br /> <br />The cooperative options, as examined in this investigation, would not require <br />construction of new trans basin diversion facilities, though additional transbasin <br />diversions using existing facilities and water rights could be necessary to fully realize the <br />potential of conjunctive use in the South metro sub-region and other system integration <br />options available to the Northwest metro sub-region. Reusable return flows associated <br />with increased transmountian diversions in turn help to expand cooperative options in the <br />area of effluent management Improvements to the existing water storage and <br /> <br />I <br />For purposes of understanding how cooperative water supply options can function, the metro Denver area is best <br />viewed as a collection of geographic sub~regions defined by their primary sources of supply. These sub-regions are <br />referred to in this report as the Denver Central, the South metro, the City of Aurora, Northeast metro, and Northwest <br />metro. Cooperative water supply options vary between sub.regions due to each region's unique water supplies and <br />water development history. <br /> <br />VI <br /> <br />Prepared for the Colorado Water Conservation Board. Colorado Department ofNaturai Resources by <br />Hydrosphere Resource Consultants, 1002 Walnut Street, Suite 200, Boulder, CO 80302 <br />