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" THE CITY OF AURORA NEEDS FOOTHILLS Most often excluded from the public discussions of Foothills is the fact that the City of Aurora has a current critical need for Foothills. Aurora's only supply of raw water is from the South Platte River. Aurora does not need Foothills as an expansion for Aurora; it is a necessit for Aurora to retire its deteriorationg, temporary 1verS1on facility. Aurora cannot tolerate an extended period of time of not diverting water from the South Platte River (about a one-month period is the maximum tolerable limit). within a few years, Aurora will be compelled to build a new diversion structure to ensure that its system is not rendered inoperable for any time due to sedimentation and icing problems. It is estimated that a structure similar in size to the Strontia Springs Dam would be necessary to optimize diversion tech- niques for utilization of Aurora's existing water rights. See Exhibit No.5, which demonstrates the existing deteriorated state of the Aurora diversion structure and tunnel, the latter is to be repaired while Aurora utilizes the Foothills diversion structure, tunnel and intertie. METRO-DENVER NEEDS FOOTHILLS The experience of the 1951 through 1957 period (the Denver "Blue Line" period), is compelling evidence that the immediate result of denial of the request for expansion of water filtration facilities would be to stimulate the crea- tion of new municipal and smaller water agencies in the Denver metropolitan region which would rely on agricultural water and bedrock aquifers for their entire water supply. At present, over 900,000 people are served by the Denver Water Department; by 2001, it is projected that the figure will be approximately 1,500,000. As population migration continues into the metropolitan area, the political pressure for an adequate water supply will increase. Even EPA admits that population growth will continue with or without Foothills. In the past, people have been willing to pay the price for the water they deem necessary for a pleasant environment and there is no reason to assume that they will not continue to do so. Therefore without Foothills, in order to respond to the future population growth as predicted by the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRcOG), a scenario similar to that which occurred during the "Blue Line" period will return. Population increases which cannot be served by Denver will turn to existing smaller entities and new special purpose disricts and new municipalities will be created to "tap" new and costly sources such as underground aquifers and surface water currently used for agricultural purposes. This type of water utility provision takes its toll in greatly increased costs per unit and the attendant political tensions between the various components of government ' caused by competition for the resource and disparity in -19-