Metropolitan Growth: Urban, Suburban, Rural Interfaces Colorado Water Workshop 7/19/13 Charles Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities holds many parallels for water supply in Colorado. However, rather than talking about Two cities, we need to talk about two cities – Denver and Aurora (the Urban); and a third “Area” – South Metro (Suburban). I want to tell you a tale of these three cities and how we are providing a safe and reliable water supply to our populations.

We’ll return to the urban in a moment, but let me describe the Third; the suburban. I am the Executive Director of SMWSA. 15 members (geographic context); all completely or partially on groundwater that is running out; regional organization with the purpose of developing regional renewable water supply projects. Currently, SMWSA members serve 300,000 people, predominantly in Douglas County and some in Arapahoe County. Our 15 entities have the duel challenge of providing water for future residents who are moving to the area and replacing their current water system which relies on nonrenewable groundwater.

Denver Basin Aquifer System Estimated 259 MAF Recoverable Water --BUT-- Let me take a moment to tell you a little bit more about this nonrenwable groundwater. This resource is also a tale of two sides. The Denver Basin Aquifer covers this geographic region. On one hand this aquifer has a huge amount of water in it – as much water as Lake Erie. On the other hand, it isn’t the amount of water as much as it is the pressure. These graphs show the declining production of different wells. --explain multiple well drilling— On the other hand, this aquifer is a tremendous resource as it is completely drought proof. It is there in basically the same quantity and same pressure regardless of whether area is flooding or in sever drought. So as with the tale of two cities, it is a tale of two aquifers. As a base supply it is a liability; as a drought supply it gives our region the most drought proof supply in the state if not the region. However, in order to be used the way it should be used, as a drought supply, our members need a renewable surface water supply that they can jointly use, or use conjunctively, with their groundwater resource.

“It was the best of times. It was the worst of times” Let us return to our two cities. The famous opening line from Dickens’s famous book rings particularly true for one city – Aurora. 2002 drought was the worst one year drought on record for most of Colorado. Going into the 2002 drought we were coming off of, if not the best of times, at least pretty good times; the 1990’s were relatively wet and our storage in the state was mostly full. Then the 2002 drought hit and it was a real wake up call for most of our state’s water providers. We entered possibly the worst of times for our state’s water providers; none more so than Aurora.

“It was the spring of hope. It was the winter of despair” Aurora has very sophisticated and broad water supply system. They have multiple water sources in multiple river basins. However, because they are a younger city than Denver, other municipalities, and agricultural producers, they had relatively junior water rights. Even after sever drought restrictions in 2002 they had to meet their needs by drawing down storage. –explain graph-- The state’s third largest city with more than 300,000 residents only had 30% of their storage and were months away from running out of water. It was truly the winder of despair, and the spring of hope. That hope paid off because if it weren’t for one very large snow storm in March of 2003, this graph would have continued its downward spiral. Between March 17-19 2003 the area received the second largest snow storm ever. 31.8 inches fell second only to a 1913 storm of 45 inches. It saved the region, but living on a spring of hope is no way for a water provider to live if you are a water provider responsible for providing water to a community.

Prairie Waters Project Began delivering water in October 2010 Current capacity of 10,000 AFY Expandable to 50,000 AF with additional infrastructure 34-mile pipeline with 3 pump stations Multi-barrier state of the art treatment process $800 million in infrastructure That type of a situation required action. Aurora embarked upon on of the most visionary water supply projects in recent time. --Explain PWP, map and stats— --explain drought nature of PWP-- Perhaps the most visionary part of the project was their ability to do the project quickly. Where as most water projects spend around 10 years in just the permitting process before they even start a bit of construction, PWP was conceived, planned, permitted, designed, and fully built in under 10 years.

“We had everything before us. We had nothing before us.” So now we have an area, the South Metro area with a renewable water supply need. We have one of our two cities with a recently built water project, that was built as a drought supply so often has excess capacity when Aurora doesn’t need to fully utilize it as a drought supply. Enter the second city – Denver --Describe the project-- --Describe the three entities Drought use of the project-- This is where we part ways with Dickens. We have a significant regional project before us. This type of regional cooperation is difficult, time consuming and messy. 11 boards, Denver Water Board, Aurora City council all have to approve this project. Even a great water supply project such as this is not easy or straight forward, but we are on the verge of getting final approvals and are moving from a negotiation stage to an implementation phase. We truly have everything before us.

WISE Water Supply Benefits SMWSA Renewable supply for SMWSA Allows use of Denver Basin aquifer for drought supply Denver Water Drought and emergency supplies for Denver Aurora Water Continued use of PWP for drought supply Offset PWP costs This opportunity impacts 2 of Colorado’s roughly 5 million people. It brings a renewable water supply to the South Metro area and allows us to use the Denver Basin Aquifer as a drought supply. It provides an emergency back up drought supply to Denver. And it allow Aurora to continue to use PWP as their drought supply while offsetting some of the project costs. Total Affected Population = 2 million

However, I think one of the best thing this project does is it completes the tale of three cities. It puts Denver, Aurora, and South Metro – the urban and suburban – in a regional partnership that can be built on in the future. I would also say that this project is providing a spark for meeting rural needs in Douglas County as well. The WISE infrastructure will be a backbone that rural users might benefit from in the future. Also, Douglas County is stepping in and working with the WISE Partners to secure an option for additional water in the future to help move rural users off of groundwater. Because of the regional benefits and cooperation, it is a broadly supported project.

Questions? In the water world we do a lot of talking, studying and planning. We are good at endless meetings. Many projects have been in the planning/permitting phase for over 10 years. Through this type of project we are coping with urban and suburban water supply needs in the Front range through real action and not just by providing support groups.