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electricity to rural cooperatives in the South Platte valley, whic h in turn sold it to pump <br />55 <br />irrigators. This new power source coincided with the arrival of cente r-pivot irrigation, <br />patented in 1952 by Coloradoan Frank Zybach. His system consisted of elevated pipes <br />and nozzles, attached to wheeled towers, wh ich rotated around pivots like the hands of a <br />clock. The invention allowed for irrigation on hilly and uneven land, which could not be <br />56 <br />reached by ditches without costly leveling. This system, enlivened by electricity, <br />combined with pump irrigation to bring mo re than 30,000 acres of new land into <br />57 <br />production by 1960. At the same time, however, water from the Colorado-Big <br />Thompson project masked the effect of wells on the flowing river, offsetting the expected <br />58 <br />reductions in seepage water caused by pumping. In essence, the addition of this trans- <br />mountain water stabilized su rface flows while it encour aged groundwater use by <br />supplying cheap electricity. These oppositional yet complimentary influences preserved a <br />tentative accommodation between water use and availabilit y, even as groundwater use <br />and irrigated acreage expanded. Simultane ously, however, the balance was being <br />disrupted by declining water tabl es in groundwater-reliant areas. <br />Among the areas most threatened by deple tion in the South Platte valley was the <br />Bijou Basin, located along one of the river’s ty pically dry southern tributaries. Farmers in <br />the region were almost entirely dependent on groundwater for irrigation. Located several <br />55 <br />Colorado Rural Electric News, “Electricity Sold from Colorado-Big Thompson Project Boosts <br />Economy,” August 1963. Also see J.M. Dille, Irrigation in Morgan County (Fort Morgan: Farmers State <br />Bank, 1960), 50. <br />56 <br />Colorado Rural Electric News, August 1963. Also Thomas Cech and Andy Jones, Colorado Water Law <br />for Non-Lawyers (unpublished manuscript in possession of the author), 27. <br />57 <br /> J.M. Dille, Irrigation in Morgan County (Fort Morgan: Farmers State Bank, 1960), 51-52. However, <br />irrigated acreage was already expanding in the valley befo re electrification arrived. See White and Theis, 9. <br />Box 15, GDC. <br />58 <br /> For more on the “masking” effect of water from the Colorado-Big Thompson project, see Lawrence J. <br />MacDonnell, “Colorado’s Law of Underground Water: A Look at the South Platte Basin and Beyond.” <br />University of Colorado Law Review 59, no. 3 (Summer 1988): 579-625. <br />20 <br />