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The consultants were also to identify the ditches and canals that would be the most <br />seriously affected by continuing drought conditions and to sugge st alternatives within the <br />study area to optimize the use of surface and ground water considering the constraints of <br />time, economics, and impacts on senior water rights. <br />Constraints to Developing a Supplemental Well Pumping Plan <br />The study identified two legal c onstraints that had to be a ddressed in the pumping plan <br />and they were: <br />1. Injury to senior surface water rights could not be allowed by the supplemental <br />well pumping program, but it may be possible to offset the impact of the plan by <br />providing ground water in lieu of surface water to the impacted water rights. <br />2. The existing wells in the valley had to comply the 1974 Amended Rules and <br />Regulations of the State Engineer. <br />The majority of wells were operating under temporary plans for augmentation approved <br />annually by the State Engineer. The plans we re approved in 1977 based on the minimum <br />requirement of providing five percent of the estimated pumping volume as the amount of <br />replacement water necessary for operation of th e plans. If late summer rains had not <br />occurred in 1977, the plans would not have been sufficient. <br />The report recognized that if the drought c ontinued in 1978 that more replacement water <br />would be needed to protect senior water ri ghts. It also pointed out that many canal <br />systems had irrigation wells and would be relu ctant to demand strict well administration <br />since it would also impact their ability to pump their supplemental wells. The report did <br />state that some canals had limited or no access to supplemental wells under their systems <br />and would be impacted by drought and junior well pumping. The study would focus on a <br />plan to provide augmentation water to thes e water rights which wa s legally viable and <br />which would permit continued pumping of the nu merous junior wells in the South Platte <br />for supplemental irrigation water. <br />The study also identified time as a constraint to the implementation of the plan and that it <br />had to be fully operational by June 15. This would require numer ous meetings between <br />various water users to reach agreements n ecessary to implement the plan. The study <br />recognized that in the past mutual agreements between water users have been difficult to <br />attain and it is in this area that the ma jor difficulty with a supplemental wells pumping <br />program may be encountered, especially due to the short time for implementation. As it <br />turned out, 1978 was not a drought year and the plan was not implemented. <br />Economics was also identified as a constraint to the success of the program due to the <br />costs of constructing and operating new wells al ong affect canals. It was recognized that <br />grants or loans to ground water user entitie s may have to be provided to implement the <br />pumping program. <br />2 <br />