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<br />'03NH <br /> <br />,. <br /> <br />It is commonly stated that industrial uses of water are largely <br />non-consumptive in character, as opposed to the consumptive uses incident <br />to irrigation and related agricultural operations. This investigation <br />suggests that, while the industrial uses at the Pueblo steel plant are <br />not wholly non-consumptive in character, they are nevertheless largely <br />so, and have the effect of withholding quantities of water much smaller <br />in amount than would be the case if the water supplies were utilized for <br />irrigation purposes. <br />For example, an analysis of the divercions made by ditchea <br />along the Arkansas River in Water District 14, Pueblo County, shows an <br />average annual rate of 2.44 acre feet per acre, of , which an estimated <br />1.5 acre feat per acre is withheld from the river and consumed incident <br />to the irrigation of lands and growing of crops thereon. In othor words <br />the consumption under this agricultural use approximates 61% of the aver- <br />age head gate diversions and hence the returns to the river could not be <br />in excess of 39%. <br />A study is under way to ascertain the relative benefits de- <br />rived from the use of ,~ter for industrial purposes, as at the Pueblo <br /> <br /> <br />steel plant, compared with the benefits derived from the use of the same <br /> <br /> <br />quantity of water for irrigation purposes. This study is not completed <br /> <br /> <br />but soma preliminary information is available to justify the following <br /> <br /> <br />comparisons. <br /> <br />The assessed value of the average acre of irrigated land in <br /> <br />Pueblo Ccunty has declined, from ~100.25 in 1926 to $62.03 in 1939, <br />and has averaged 080.76 per acre during the period 1923-1939. During <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />(f) <br />