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<br />.. <br /> <br />-4- <br /> <br />allotted under the agreement for the irrigation of these lands has been trans- <br /> <br /> <br />ferred to remaining areas which have needed more water than the basic diversion <br /> <br /> <br />allotment of 4 acre feet per acre provided. However, under the agreement, di- <br /> <br /> <br />versions to these 160 acres could be resumed at any time. In addition, other <br /> <br /> <br />unused portions of allotments to ditches divertinG from tributaries TTith limited <br /> <br /> <br />water supplies have also been transferred to supplement the diversions of the <br /> <br /> <br />areas of greater need. <br /> <br />The result has been that ditches serving 3,645 acres of lands which would <br /> <br /> <br />probably use more water have diverted an average of about 4.4 acre feet per acre <br /> <br /> <br />during the period of the division agreement, and had the l60 acres above mentioned <br /> <br /> <br />been irrigated, the average diversion on 3,805 acres would have been about 4.2 <br /> <br /> <br />acre feet per acre. <br /> <br />Because of the porous subsoils in the basin in Colorado, and the fact <br /> <br /> <br />that the meadowland ditches do not extend veTlJ far away from the streams, the <br /> <br /> <br />diversions are accompanied by significant amounts of continuous return flows, <br /> <br /> <br />both surface and underground, back into the channels from ...'rhich the diversions <br /> <br /> <br />are made. <br /> <br /> <br />During the years 1939, 1940 and 1941, the headgates of the transmountain <br /> <br /> <br />diversion facilities and those of the meadowland ditches were closed within a <br /> <br /> <br />period of a few hours at the time when the total Colorado allocation had been <br /> <br /> <br />diverted. The recorder charts for the gaging stations at Glendevey, located <br /> <br /> <br />on the Laramie River about 10 miles below the Lara,nie-?oudre tunnel, and at <br /> <br /> <br />Jelm, near the Colorado~;yoming state line, shO'N the rise in gage heights at <br /> <br />these points resulting from the closing of the gates in those years. In inter- <br /> <br /> <br />preting this rise, consideration must be given to such variable factors as <br /> <br /> <br />diurnal fluctuation in stream flow, time required for the effect of the closure <br />