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<br />SB06-193 Underground Water Storage Study <br /> <br />Executive Summary <br /> <br />Senate Bill 06-193 (SB06-193) directed the Colorado Water Conservation Board <br />(CWCB) to conduct a study of potential underground water storage areas in the South <br />Platte and Arkansas River Basins. This report presents the results of the SB06-193 <br />investigation. <br /> <br />In 2004 the Colorado Geological Survey (CGS) completed their report IIArtificial <br />Recharge of Ground Water in Colorado - A Statewide Assessment.1I In that study, <br />large aquifer regions were identified statewide for recharge potential. This SB06-193 <br />study uses the CGS study as a beginning point and goes a step further in the South <br />Platte and Arkansas River Basins. The regional aquifers identified in the CGS study <br />are evaluated here on a subregional basis, and some smaller alluvial aquifers not <br />considered in the CGS study in these river basins are included too. <br /> <br />The aquifers in the two basins were divided into four regions: South Platte River <br />Basin alluvial aquifers, Arkansas River Basin alluvial aquifers, Denver Basin bedrock <br />aquifers, and the Ogallala and Dakota-Cheyenne bedrock aquifers. These regions <br />were further divided into subregions for evaluation purposes, resulting in a total of 44 <br />subregions: 16 alluvial subregions in the South Platte Basin, 10 alluvial subregions in <br />the Arkansas Basin, 15 subregions in the four aquifers of the Denver Basin, two <br />subregions for the Ogallala, and one subregion for the Dakota-Cheyenne. The 15 <br />subregions in the Denver Basin were formed by aquifer layer, by location in the basin, <br />and by whether the portion of the aquifer in question was under confined or <br />unconfined groundwater conditions. <br /> <br />These areas were each evaluated for 10 criteria representing hydrogeologic, <br />environmental and implementation considerations. There are many other pertinent <br />issues that were not covered by the criteria, because they were beyond the scope of <br />this study. They include factors such as available sources of water and scale of project, <br />water rights and potential legal issues, water treatment requirements, and interest <br />from local stakeholders. Any of these factors could affect the feasibility of <br />implementing an underground water storage project within the evaluated areas and <br />should be considered on a site-specific basis. <br /> <br />Technical information from a variety of State, federal and other published sources <br />was assembled and used to characterize the areas. From this information a set of <br />quantitative measures were developed and used to score and rank each of the <br />subregions. The study team consulted over 50 technical experts and stakeholders from <br />all areas of the South Platte and Arkansas River Basins. Their input helped identify <br />key sets of data, provided valuable insight into what factors were considered most <br />important, and imparted local knowledge that benefited the study. <br /> <br />ES-1 <br /> <br />SB06-193 Underground Water Storage Study <br />