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Description of the South Platte River System <br />The study briefly described the work of the consultants to map the system on 133 mylar <br />base maps. The field work found 4250 irrigati on wells under the canals in the study area <br />that could be used to provide supplemen tal ground water if the drought continued and <br />surface water was availabl e in limited quantities. It also identified canals with limited or <br />no supplemental wells and insufficient water righ ts to provide water due to drought or the <br />impact of well depletions. <br />These ditches without sufficient water rights or existing supplemental wells were listed in <br />the report by District and for District 64 included the Liddle, South Reservation, <br />Peterson, Harmony No. 1, Powell-Blai r and Sterling No. 1 canals. <br />For District 1, it included the Tetsel, No rth Sterling, Weldon Valley, and Riverside <br />canals. <br />For District 2, it included the Evans No. 2, the Fulton, and the Burlington/Brighton <br />Lateral. <br />Present Water Management Practices within the Study Area <br />The report then described the irrigation practices and the changes from initial <br />development of irrigation in the 1860’s to 1978. Direct flow ir rigation was followed by <br />reservoir development in the early 1900’s with two systems identified as having no senior <br />direct flow water rights or limited alluvium for the construction of wells which are the <br />Riverside Irrigation Dist rict and the North Ster ling Irrigation District. <br />Irrigation wells were then constructed pr imarily after 1950 when turbine well technology <br />and electricity became economically available. <br />The formation of two well owner organizations was discussed which were established for <br />the purpose of allowing wells to comply w ith the 1974 amended rules, i.e. GASP and <br />Central Colorado Water Conservancy Dist rict. In 1977, GASP had 2,648 wells with a <br />projected pumping of 370,000 a-f and Central had 845 wells with a projected pumping of <br />104,000 a-f. This totaled 3493 we lls and 472,000 a-f of pumping. <br />GASP’s plan to remove the call from certain key senior water rights was described and in <br />particular how this removal of a call pr ovided water to upstream canals that had <br />traditionally had to pass water downstream to these calling rights. Well fields had been <br />constructed along the South Reservation Canal and Sterling No. 1 and the benefits of the <br />use of these wells as altern ate point of diversion was discussed. This method of <br />removing the call is often referre d to as “call management”. Later wells were constructed <br />along the upper reach of the Pe terson Canal by GASP to provi de water to the canal to <br />offset well depletions and remove its senior call. <br />3 <br />