WSP10371

• File Number: 8111.805
• Description: Arkansas River Compact Administration - Keesee Ditch
• Basin: Arkansas
• Date: 1/1/1986
• Author: HRS Engineering
• Title: Keesee Ditch Change of Water Rights Vol 1 - Historical Operation of Kessee Ditch
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

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No pUJllping records are available for the Broyles irrigation wells. As a
conservative estimate of the minimum pumping capacity of these wells, pumping
estimates were made based on the absolute pumping rates as decreed in Case
W-2695. Prior to 1973, administration of wells in the Arkansas Valley included
only sporadic limitations on pumping. In 1973, with the implementation of a
three day per week pumping limit, the Broyles wells were included in an
augmentation plan with the Lower Arkansas Water Management Association.

Under this augmentation plan, the Broyles wells would have been capable
of unrestricted pumping at the decreed absolute rates for the entire study period.
Assuming a ,May to September pumping period, for most years, and the combined
pumping rate of 18.75 cubic feet per second for the six absolute water rights,
a total of 5,680 acre-feet per year could have been pumped during the growing
season. This amount is more than adequate for the irrigatiqn of the 500 acres
in excess of the decreed ditch acreage and to supplement any ditch water
shortages. The actual pumping amounts during the study period would have
reflected irrigation requirements and combinations of the absolute and conditional
pumping rates for various wells in use at any given time.

Estimates of well pumping for the Broyles wells were made based on irrigation
requirements in excess of surface water supplies, an assumed monthly pattern
of pumping :based on the pattern of ditch diversions, and a limited period of
electrical records for the wells. Since the wells were probably used liberally
as a supplemental supply, the pumping estimates reflect a maximum of either
the absolute decreed rates or 2.5 times the estimated irrigation requirements.
Table X lists the resulting pumping estimates for the Broyles wells for the study
period. These estimates are intended only to illustrate the capability of the
wells to supply supplemental irrigation water given a minimum interpretation
of the water rights.

To estimate the historical consumptive use which might be associated with
the Broyles wells and the additional irrigated acreage under the ditch, a combined
water budget analysis was performed which incorporated both surface and ground
water supplies, and the irrigation water requirements for the total 1900 acres.
The initial results of the Keesee Ditch water budget analysis were then subtracted

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