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I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I Chapter 1: South Platte Basin Inventory March 21,1998 Page 1-15 1.2 GROUNDWATER PRODUCTION ESTIMATES FROM THE DENVER BASIN AQUIFERS The purpose of this sub task as described in the scope of work is to develop a 1995 groundwater production estimate from the Denver Basin aquifers, estimate groundwater return flows to the surface water system, and identify and quantify groundwater reuse. Personnel from the State Engineer's Office (SEO), as part of their S.B, 96-74 groundwater flow modeling work, assembled 1996 municipal groundwater production information from the Denver Basin aquifers. Additionally, the SED totaled well permit records by beneficial use category. The well permit work reflects the number of well permits in 1996. As more data is available for 1996 than 1995, 1996 production estimates from the Denver Basin aquifers were assembled instead of 1995, 1.2.1 Municipal Use Values of municipal production from the Denver Basin aquifers for 1996 are shown on Table 1-20. These production values were obtained from groundwater suppliers, Municipal production from the Denver Basin aquifers for the water suppliers listed on the table totals 24,914 acre-feet. This total represents production in the South Platte and the Arkansas Basins. Approximately ninety percent of the production on Table 1-20 occurs within the South Platte Basin. This number should be considered an estimate. The major Denver Basin aquifer groundwater suppliers are included on the table. However, there are smaller groundwater users whose production is not included in this estimate, 1.2.2 Commercial and Industrial Use An estimate of groundwater production from the Denver Basin aquifers for commercial and industrial uses is obtained from the number of commercial and industrial well permits and an average annual volume per permit. The State Engineer's records indicate 657 commercial and industrial well permits. We do not have any estimate for the number of permits in the South Platte and Arkansas Basins. Robson (1987) calculated an average production value from 20 typical wells. From his work he obtained a value of nine acre-feet per well. Because of the small number of wells on which the commercial and industrial estimate is based, the actual withdrawals under this category may be plus or minus 30 percent of the estimate. At nine acre-feet per well and 657 wells, the estimated commercial and industrial use is 5,913 acre-feet in 1996, Hydrosphere Resource Consultants, 1002 Walnu! Suite 200, Boulder, CO 80302