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miles south of the flowing ri ver, the underlying gravels re charged slowly. By 1956, water <br />tables had fallen by as much as 30 feet, re ducing the capacity of mo st wells and causing <br />59 <br />some to go dry altogether. The basin was a compelling ex ample of the depletion that <br />alarmed Code. He predicted farmers in such a region would agree th at “control in some <br />60 <br />form is needed among users from a limited source.” But while scientists and engineers <br />viewed groundwater issues from the angle of resource management, farmers had a much <br />different perspective. They conceived of th e water beneath them in terms of economic <br />survival and prosperity. Furthermore, they we re attuned to the land ’s broad diversity of <br />61 <br />physical conditions, making them wary of any standardized regulations from outside. <br />Private investments collided with resource preservation, together contributing to the <br />progression of groundwater ’s use in the basin. <br /> Resistance among some farmers to scientific valuations was not new. As early as <br />1942, groundwater studies were proposed for the area. But “many local men are opposed <br />62 <br />to that,” according to one expert. “They say it would be just college theories.” But in <br />1956, researchers from Colorado State Univer sity – formerly the State Agricultural <br />College – conducted extensive economic and engineering surveys. At times, they <br />encountered suspicion among farmers, noting th at “many were cautious, and reluctant to <br />63 <br />provide the information sought.” But the researchers were determined to gauge <br />farmers’ opinions about various types of pr oposed regulation for their area. Confidential <br />interviews and surveys recorded the atti tudes and opinions of these people most <br />59 <br /> Farmer, 13-14, 78-88. <br />60 <br /> W.E. Code, “Colorado Needs Ground-Water Legislation,” c1954. Box 16, GDC. <br />61 <br /> James C. Scott addresses the pitfa lls of applying scientific and legal abstractions to complex systems in <br />Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (New Haven: <br />Yale University Press, 1998). Scott points out that standardization, by focusing only on certain criteria <br />within a landscape, can externali ze and overlook elements most criti cal to the people who live there. <br />62 <br /> J.M. Dille, “Irrigation Problems in Northern Colorado,” October 1942. Box 27, DEC. <br />63 <br /> Farmer, 74-75. <br />21 <br />