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<br />0022{5 <br /> <br />., <br /> <br />.' the city of Boulder and the Denver metropolitan area, the Coal Creek <br />Basin has a potential for rapid growth if additional water supplies <br />can be made available. Such growth would require the conversion of <br />about 22,850 acres of presently irrigated farm land to urban purposes. <br />The Coal Creek Basin is virtually an inseparable part of the <br />Boulder-Denver metropolitan complex. Considerable pressure exists now <br />and will continue for the indefinite future for almost complete urban- <br />ization of the area. It is most unlikely that agriculture will continue <br />to be a viable industry within the basin because of both economic, <br />pressure being brought to convert agricultural water uses to urban uses <br />and periodic shortages of irrigacion water. <br />The respective water supply systems of each of the four communities <br />are already at a critical stage. Water use restrictions are common in <br />dry years. In such years the town of Erie is severely impacted. The <br />town of Superior does not own any surface rights and has no common <br />water system. The community is supplied by individual wells within the <br />city. <br />The water systems in the four communities are not adequate for the <br />existing population and are totally inadequate for any expanded uses. <br />Nearly all small communities in Colorado experience severe financial <br />difficulties in attempting to expand their municipal water systems to <br />accommodate an ever-increasing population growth. However, in the Coal <br />Creek Basin a somewhat unique and encouraging factor is that the four <br />communities are willing to combine their resources in a joint under- <br />taking to solve the basin problem. With this approach, it appears that <br />a solution is possible. <br /> <br />-2- <br />