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293;;: RIVERSIDE IRRIGATION DISTRICT Brief outlining position in regards to Proposed Narrows Reservoir: The Riverside Irrigation District consists of the area extending from Masters, ::010. to Snyder, Colo. north of the South ,Platte liiver and supplies water to an c~ea between the canal built as high as gravity flow would permit and th3 ditches of early origin that irrigate the ri '\/Jer bot tom. (see map) . A portion of the system is in vield County and the balance extends across neady all of Morgan County. The present assessed irrigated acres are 21,584 plus about 300 additional acres that use Reservoir rights alone as their water supply. Several hundred acres included within the District must pump above the canal to reach the irrigated l~d. The soils en- countered range from ver'J. sandy, through light lO8ms to heavy loams. Since the canal must follow the contour it requires 90 miles of main canal to traverse 42 miles of airline distance. The canal is supplied either from or through Riverside Reser- voir which in turn diverts water from the South Platte ,Qver near Kuner, Colo., the intake of which is 11 miles long. On a direct run from the South Platte River the water must be conveyed a maximum distance, of 1011li.les. The decreed date of direct flow rights is May 31, 1907, beinr. the most junior except one of all the m ajar systems decreed from the South Platte River. Only in flood periods is this late decreed date ever valid so the Riversic"'e Irrigation District must rely on thJ stored water in ~iverside Reservoir for its w ,~er supply entirely in short water years and most of the time in normal years. 6nly when there are floods of long duration do the direct rights supply more than a fraction of the total supply. Riverside ResJrvoir nmv holds close to 62,000 A.F. when filled to the safe maximum capacity and is slowly enlarging to enable the capacity to be enlarged to 65,000 A.F. It is filled by three decrees, one of 17,000 A.F. measured in at the reservoir of date April 1, 1902, the second for 41,000 A.F. measured in at the res- ervoir of date August 1, 1907, and the last or date October 25, 1910, a rod decree which last decree is the measure of approaching an adequate water supply. Riverside Res~rvoir loses in round figures approximately 10 per cent of its stored water vol- ume by seepage and evaporation per month. Approximately 25 per cent of the water diverted from the river is lost in the intake from the South Platte River to the Reservoir. Only 80 per cent of the storage water in liiverside Reservoir is owned by the Riverside Irrigation District. The balance is owned by individuals and other ditch systems. In a canal 90 miles long the seepaee losses become a large factor. The River- side canal loses an average of 50% of the '~ater by seepage and evaporation before it reaches the point of C:eU very from the ~servoir outlet. With all the losses compounded there must De diverted from the South Platte River from 3 to 4 acre feet to deliver one acre foot to the land. " Experience shows that to adequately supply the "yerage land and really produce a top crop the farm will require 2 acre feet per acre annually under the Riverside Irrigation, District. At present a great deal of the land is not intensively farmed as irrigated land, since recurriD5 water shortages nave forced the farmers not to promote a heavy plant population by fertilizing and intensive 'farming because to do so and be short of water is to im'ite disaster. The years tf:1en that water is plenti- ful, the use is not as great as it would be if a larger minimum supply was assured. Multiplying the present 21,584 acres by 2 acre feet per acre annually would require 43,168 delivered acre feet compared to the latest 10 year average of 25,.040 acre feet.