Laserfiche WebLink
<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />In fact, RLG thought that the very. purpose. of appropriating <br />the $200,000 for the study was to try to find viable alter- <br />natives in view of the sad record of Narrows as a solution <br />to South Platte River problems. <br /> <br />Only a full fledged hearing, with an opportunity for <br />the Subcommittee to examine qualified witnesses, would be <br />adequate for a true understanding of this subject. It is <br />assumed that if serious consideration is once more to be <br />given to funding for the Narrows before the stud,y is com- <br />pleted, RLG will be given an opportunity to be heard through <br />witnesses. <br /> <br />THE NEED FOR WATER <br /> <br />The South Platte River originates in the central moun- <br />tains of Colorado and after emerging into the plains of <br />Eastern Colorado at the mouth of P;latte Canyon, which is <br />a short distance South of Denver, jflows in a northerly <br />direction by a little east to Kersey whence it runs easterly <br />by a little north to Nebraska 'near Julesburg. The northerly <br />half of the Great Plains in Easte~n Colorado drains north~rly <br />to the Platte except for the easterly fifty miles which <br />is outside the Platte River drainage basin and secures no <br />mountain water supply. We will not consider this easterly <br />drainage area because the land whi;ch is more accessible <br />for irrigation out of the Platte ~iver drainage is itself <br />sufficiently deficient in water supply to require all.the <br />Platte River water which can be made available to it. <br /> <br />The details of place of need and potential means of <br />meeting the needs for Platte River water are expected to <br />be made the basis of' the $200,000 :reconnaissance study <br />currently being made by the Colorado Water Conservation <br />Board called "South Platte River Basin Assessment," here- <br />inafter referred to as "Basin Assessment." The $200,000 <br />appropriated by the federal 9over~ent is considered only <br />enough for a reconnaissance study although the engineering I <br />firm which has been employed to perform the study includes <br />personnel generally familiar with the Platte River, is the <br />same firm which has heretofore made studies of geologic <br />problems connected with Narrows and has available to it <br />previous studies made by the state and federal governments <br />or for them. <br /> <br />The "Plan of Study" released in March of 1981 by the <br />Colorado Water Conservation Board on how it will use the <br />federal grant for study of the South Platte River Basin, <br />at page 9, says that the study is not to include "the dam <br />safety aspects of the Narrows Dam * * *." This necessarily <br /> <br />-2- <br />