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<br /> <br />There are thousands of reservoirs in the basin that have storage <br />capacities less than' 5,000 acre-feet (the number of these is not available). <br />The smaller of these facilities are more useful for regulation of irrigation <br />flows rather than to provide carry-over storage from year-to-year. <br /> <br />Municipal and industrial water supplies are a significant water source in <br />the basin. This use is a major reason for the relatively large amount of <br />imported water. For example, the Denver Water District served a population of <br />over 950,000 during 1979 with a water supply of over 350,000 acre-feet of <br />which only 150,000 acre-feet was native South Platte River water. <br /> <br />Groundwater <br /> <br />The vall ey fill alluvi a 1 acquifer of the South Pl atte Ri ver Bas in in <br />Colorado is estimated by some to store over 14 million acre-feet of <br />groundwater. An estimated 1.3 million acre-feet of alluvial groundwater is <br />withdrawn annually through pumping, principally for irrigation. <br /> <br />The alluvium ranges from 3 to 8 miles wide and zero to 240 feet thick <br />(saturated). The depth to water ranges from 10 to 100 feet. <br /> <br />The alluvium is recharged by precipitation, applied irrigation water, and <br />leakage from canals, reservoirs and stream channels. Recharge from applied <br />irrigation water and leakage from canals to the alluvium is estimated to be 45 <br />to 50 percent of the diverted irrigation water. <br /> <br />C-2 <br />