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<br />28'11 . . <br />:~E 'ORT MORGAN TIMES, SAfURDA.Y, AUGUSt I", 1952 <br /> <br />T Hj_fO~ 1.610 R~AtI_Jl~ E ~ __ <br /> <br />'0" . . , <br /> <br />~"~rro\V~) Dam Is Needed For . <br />j ~~~~~!~ g~!~t~r~~~~xc~r~~~co~~l~ru <br />. I cd In the COllstructlO~ of the Nar- the storage season and jf the stor- <br />rows dam. has :=;ubmltted the {ol- age se;;son begins early in the fall I <br />lowing .arti~!e on "Channel Stor- the present storage ca"pacity is of~ <br />age Needed. ten unable to utilize all the water <br />Channel storage on the South available. <br />~latte river in the area between 3900 Second Feet <br />Ker.s~y and ~o.r~ .Morga~ p.res~nt~ Decreed inflow capacity or the <br />I def~nlte possibilItIes to JUnior IfrI canals feeding the seven reservoirs <br />gatlOn systems and the water us. is approximately 3900 second feet. <br />ers. iierved by. those systems. The May and June runoff peaks at Ker- <br />.prlmary f~nctIOn of these syst~ms sey gaging station often greatly ex- <br />IS to furnish. water to ~ growIng ,:eed this figure and if demand for <br />crop at the tIme best sUited to the direct irrigation is small at the <br />need of the crop. The peak of this time, considerable amounts of <br />demand occurs in July and Au- flood flow leave the state unused <br />guS~, while the p.eak of river flows In this connection a peak flow at <br />dUring the spring runoff from Kel's~y in the spring runoff period <br />! the ml)llntains generally occurs in will range as high as 20,000 second <br />.May or June. . feet. - <br />'i:.'It is'. a ,com"mon experience .in At the present time storage capa- <br />y~ar~ of heavy runoff for our If- city and the inflow rate for storage <br />r..~atlOn systems to see large quan' capacity in this area are not ade- <br />I h.tles at water flow by their diver. quate to fully utilize present his- <br />slOn works and on out of the state torical flows. As these flows in- <br />I unused in May and June, then have ere as.;! due to operation of the pro- <br />crops suffer from lack of water in jects mentioned above the inade- <br />. July and August. Our present sys- quacy of our present storage facili- <br />I tem of lO<.'ClI reservoirs and irriga- ties will become 'more pronounced. <br />I ti?n . wells has done its part in fur- From the standpoint of use, the <br />nIshmg supplemental water thru present storage capacity in this <br />the months of low river flow, but area is insufficient to provide the <br />we are still wasting large quanti- supplemental water needed for the <br />tics ?f .water that could be put to more intensive type of farming de- <br />I ~eneflclal tJse.",:'~en greatl.y n~eded ....eloping under our irrigation sys- <br />J If storage facllllles were avallablE' terns in the past 15 years. <br />I for these flows. Conservation and correct distri- <br />Need Recognized bution of all water supplies avail- <br />Th~ need for cha~nel storage?n able.to this area -is a-matter of vital <br />~he ,?outh .Platte nver, below.lts importance to the continuing devel- <br />.jUD.ctIOn With the upstr.eam. tnb~- lopment of the South Platte valley, I <br />: tanes, has been recogmzed 111 thiS and channel storage of surplus riv- <br />(II: area for Q\.er 40 ~eal's as needed er flow is a practical and efficient <br />'Ita conse~ve ~nd leg~late. surplus- method of water conservation. <br />I es occunng In the hIstorIcal flow. S' P -'bl S't <br />. to th~ end that these recurring IX 01S1 e I es <br />surplus flows be put to beneficial Study and investigation of six I <br />use instead of going out of the state possible sites for channel stor- <br />unused. age, between Kersey and Fort Mor~ <br />With the Colorado Big Thompson gan, .carried on since 1947, by the <br />project ncaring completion and the Bureau of Reclamation engineers <br />,Blue River-South Platte project are summarized in a statement <br />: proposed, the inevitable addition by. J. H: Knights, South Platte <br />to historical flows definitely points District manager., published by <br />.Iout the increasing need for this the State Water Conservation <br />: type of storage. Board, foHowing three public meet- <br />I The total capacity of the seven j ings in the area, and give the rea- <br />I off-stream storag~ reser:voirs be- i sons for the final selection of the <br />I tween Kersey gagIng statIOn ~t t.he I site at the Narrows. 1n the same <br />. western boundary of Water DIstfJet report .R. J. Tipton, consultant <br />\ One and tht: Nebraska State line engineer for the State Water Con. <br />! is approximately 275,000 acre feet I servation Board states. "The plan <br />I and the possibility for individual now proposed 'by the Bureau "is <br />. enlargement of t\,,<isting. facilities ,I sound trom an eng~eering ap. <br />: is sm.<ill. If return flow at Kersey is /1 proach, is. ~.~: b:...~t"location and <br /> <br />- <br /> <br />/' <br /> <br />I ,the -~jt;";;le~t~d. Ti~t~~:~f~rth;; <br /> <br />.analyzes the problem of storage <br />in the South Platte basin as fol- <br />lows: "The question often asked <br />,is, - I'Why not store water up <br />. stream in lieu of storing it in a <br />i dam at the Narrows site?" This' <br />is an excellent idea. Many studies <br />.have been made in the past of the <br />possibility of storing unused ilood <br />flows in various potential reser- <br />voir sites on the various tributar- <br />ies of the South Platte. The last <br />comprehensive study that was <br />made of this possibility was a co-' <br />operative one prosecuted by i:he <br />Corps of Engineers, the state engi- <br />neer and the .South Platte Water <br />User's association in the early <br />1930's. Many uiJStream reservoir <br />sites were studied but their deve- <br />loyment was .not economically feas- <br />ible' at that time. Some of the deve- <br />lopment .might 'be possible under <br />'economic policies now practiced. <br />I Even though all known upstream <br />. I :reservoir sites were utilized. It <br />would make little difference in the <br />water available to Narrows. The <br /> <br />unused flood water crossing the <br />state line is very erratic in oc- <br />curances. Large quantities will be <br />in the stream for one year, or even <br />I a two or three year period, and <br />I then there will intervene a long' <br />period of years such as 1931-40 <br />when very little unused water will <br />I cross the state line. Therefore, a <br />i large reservoir capacity is re- <br />quired to equate the now unused <br />supply over a perjod of years. It <br />I is doubtful whther the total capa- <br />'city of known potential upstream <br />I reservoirs would result in any. <br />significant equation of such Dood <br />flows." <br />Opinions Of Talent <br />The conclusion of engineers op- <br />inion expressed in (he report made <br />by bureau engineers and Tipton. <br />are the com posite opinions of our. <br />best engineering talent and de- <br />finitefy approve the Narrows site <br />as the most feasible of the sites <br />investigated between Kersey and <br />Fort Morgan. <br />The storage capacity of '~he Nar- <br />rows reservoir has been deter- <br />mined after careful study of <br />, amounts available ror storage. The <br />active usable capacity below the <br />super storage pools is 648,000 acre <br />feet. In 1942 studies show 810,000 <br />acre feet available for storage in <br />Narrows. 1943 - 70,000, 1944 - <br />80,000. 1945 - 20,000, 1946 - 30", <br />000, 1947 - 290,000, 1948, - 160,' <br />000, 1949 - 350,000. <br />The storage of this surplus water: <br />that now flows out of the state un- <br />used, in the Narrows reservoir will' <br />make available to irrigators a sup.' <br />ply of supple.mental water at a fair <br />I market value that will mean in: <br />I many years the difference between! <br />a shortage of water with its resul-, <br />'tant crop damages or an adequate: <br />:supply as needed. <br />