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<br />. . <br /> <br />do everywhere in this country. Growing demands for water uses have <br /> <br />brought us into conflict with neighboring states. In recent years the <br /> <br />states of Kansas, New Mexico and Texas have instituted legal action <br /> <br />against Colorado in the United States Supreme Court concerning the use <br /> <br />of water which originates in Colorado. These and other circumstances <br /> <br />have caused a critical search in our state leading to the conservation <br /> <br />of flood flows and the reuse of water supplies without infringement <br /> <br />upon the rights of other states. The proposed Narrows project is one <br /> <br />which meets the criteria of our search. <br />Long time records on the South Platte River indicate that <br /> <br />the annual average discharge of the river at the coloradO-Nebraska <br /> <br /> <br />state line is approximately 340,000 acre-feet. About 100,000 acre- <br /> <br /> <br />feet of this amount is required to pass the state line annually in <br /> <br /> <br />order to comply with the terms of the South Platte River Compact. <br /> <br /> <br />This means that on the average there is about 240,000 acre-feet of <br /> <br /> <br />water available for use in Colorado which is now being wasted. In <br /> <br /> <br />one ten-week period last year there was a net volume of about 440,000 <br /> <br />acre-feet which could have been stored in the proposed Narrows Reser- <br /> <br />voir and subsequently put to beneficial use. As it was, the unchecked <br /> <br />flood waters caused over $400,000 in damages to irrigation works alone <br /> <br />in the area below the proposed Narrows Dam. <br /> <br />The need for additional reservoir storage on the Lower <br /> <br />South Platte aiver has long been recognized. Records disclose that <br /> <br />-2- <br />