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identified for the Burlington canal – Bright on lateral during drought due to its location <br />and lack of senior surface wa ter rights for about 16,000 acres. <br />Conclusions and Comments about the Viability of Such a Plan in 2007 <br />The study was conducted at a time where the political, economic and regulatory climate <br />was considerably different than it is now in 2007. <br />The technical and legal requirements for approving a plan for augmentation or a <br />temporary plan for augmentation in 1978 were much less stringent and allowed the State <br />Engineer to approve plan s on an annual basis. <br />The competition for water was significantly le ss and water was economically available to <br />lease from cities and other water users to provide replacement water for annually <br />approved temporary plans for augmentation. <br />The use of wells as alternate point of di versions to senior surface water rights was <br />allowed without the current requirement that post-pumping depletions be replaced if it <br />causes injury to other water rights or impacted complian ce with South Platte River <br />Compact. <br />The cooperation among water users was better in 1978, i.e. the Gentlemen’s agreement, <br />than it is now and the report assumed c onsiderable cooperation among water users in <br />order for the proposed plan to succeed and such cooperation may not have been achieved <br />even in 1978. <br />It may be possible to develop a conjunctive management plan for the South Platte River <br />basin in the future if the Sout h Platte River DSS is complete d as soon as possible. This <br />powerful set of tools can be used to evaluate various management options that could lead <br />to a true conjunctive use management plan that reasonably protects senior water rights <br />and maximizes the use of the water res ources of the South Platte River basin. <br />Completion of the South Platte DSS is at least two years away so it is not available to <br />address the immediate needs of the South Platte River Task Force but could assist in a <br />long term solution to maximizing the use of th e water resources of the South Platte River <br />basin. <br />5 <br />