FLOOD10384 ‎(2)‎

• County: Statewide
• Title: Natural Resources of Colorado
• Date: 1/1/1963
• Prepared By: US Department of the Interior
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Educational/Technical/Reference Information

community water systems are supplied from both
ground and surface water sources.
The most productive sources of ground water
are east of the Continental Divide in the alluvial
deposits along the Rio Grande in the San Luis
Valley, along the South Platte and Arkansas
rivers, and in the High Plains. Sandstones in
the Denver basin and in the southeastern part
of the State are moderately productive. West
of the Divide the alluvium along the principal
streams is locally important as aquifers. The
sandstones of the Colorado Plateaus and Wy-
oming basin are extensive but generally yield
only small supplies to wells.
Although some of Colorado's aquifers are at
or near optimum development, large supplies
of water are still available for future use.
Ground-water storage is many times greater
than surface-water storage, but this fact does
not imply that potential development of ground-
water resources is in the same proportion. The
amount of ground water in storage exceeds 2
billion acre-feet; whereas, the capacity of
surface-water reservoirs has been estimated at
only 4.3 million acre-feet. Some of the ground-
water reservoirs, if depleted, would take
hundreds of years to refill under natural con-
ditions; by comparison, the time to fill surface-
water reservoirs can be measured in months and
years.

Irrigation Development

Farming by irrigation in Colorado was first
undertaken in the 1850's by Spanish settlers in
the San Luis Valley, near the town of San Luis.
In the 1860's small irrigation projects were
developed by individual farmers in the Denver
area, principally along Clear Creek. Most of
these pioneer irrigation enterprises watered from
10 to 100 acres and the water was taken directly
from the streams by means of short ditches to
the low lands lying in the river valleys.
Irrigation on a large scale was first undertaken
in northern Colorado in the 1870's and the 1880's
with water being taken from the SOllth Platte
River and its tributaries. The undertakings
were generally successful and other districts
immediately followed the example of northern
Colorado.
Colorado today ranks first among all the

Paonia Dam-a completed earth-Ailed structure on
Muddy Creek-is part of the vast five-state Upper
Colorado River Storage Proj~ct. This gigantic multj.
purpose Reclamation endeavor will harness the waters
of one of the Nation's most unruly river basins.

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