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293"~ ~3- becoming apparent that only in the vrinter months will there be an appreciable bene- fit from this source, for every year in every conceivable place where water can be secured, more expansion in irrigation is going on by drilling wells, by pumping seep- age streams and construction of small reservoirs to i~pound flood runoffs so that the increase during the summer months Will be decreased by these other consuming units , to a point that it may not amount to very much. Riverside Res rvoir is so situated and the intake works are high enough up the river that it is possible to enlarge it by raising the dikes as much as 10 feet above what is contemplated at this time. Unless precluded by other construction, if the return flow does develop strong enough from the trans mountain diversions that there is consistently more water available than the present storage facilities on the river to store it would appear to be the height of folly and the exercise of stupendous stupidity if the niverside Irrigation District did not construct the additional stor- age facilities, when there is the land to use it on and the canal system to deliver it. Increased return flows during the SUllll1ler months certainly will not be passed by the Riverside Irrigation District, unless senior decrees force it by. Flood flows are so infrequent and so irregular that the Riverside Irrigation District could never economically expand its facilities to make use of them. The heavy seepage rates from Riverside Reservoir make it impractical to store carry-over water. Flood flrnvs are the only flows that cran be ccnsidered as the source of supply for any on channel reservoirs. The Riverside Irrigation District has sustained almost no damages to its diver- ,sion works by any flood. Rather, and many times, a flood was its only salvation in saving a drouth stricken crop. The intake works are ,.elatively large in 0 rder to take advantage of floods. "Its an ill wind that blows nobody good" aptly applies to the flood situation as far as Riverside is concerned. The Riverside Irrigation District vrill 'Pprove and recommend that a flood con- trol reservoir be built on Bijou creek provided it is located a point 20 or more miles above its confluenee with the South Platte River, even though the construction \Vill at times decrease its water supply a small amount. The Riverside Irrigation District is absolutely opposed to the construction of the Narrows Reservoir of the size and location proposed by the U.'S.'Bureau of Recla- mation. ' The Riverside Irrigation District recommends that additional channel storage for flood and irrigation be found 'and constructed in the South Platte Basin provided that the location, capacities, and use are determined by a comprehensive study of the origin of water, location of probable flood damages and best use of stored waters, con- sidering decree dates of the various irrigation systems, the adequacy of the present water supplies for each system and the potential acreage that may be developed under each system and the points of diversion for each system.' We believe the South Platte Basin survey, if all factors are evaluated, will point out the solution., To that end we recommend that time be marked until the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has had time to compile this information.