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Pumping data from the Other Designated Groundwater Basins and the North Park and South <br />Park Region are almost nonexistent and are, therefore, considered poor. The total number of <br />users and permitted wells in these two areas, however, are limited because of the small <br />populations in each location and the short agricultural season on these high plateaus. <br />3.8.3 Additional Data Required <br />Based on interviews with the SEO and water users, the SB 96-74 recommendations and the data <br />review provided herein, a data collection effort is needed to quantify groundwater pumping rates <br />for at least the Denver Basin and Overlying Alluvium and Lower South Platte Alluvium <br />Regions. Pumping evaluations will be needed throughout Division 1 and Water District 47 if <br />models are created for the Other Designated Basins and the North and South Park Regions. <br />These data are needed to (1) determine overall groundwater use within the Denver Basin and <br />Overlying Alluvium and Lower South Platte Alluvium Regions, (2) better quantify deep <br />percolation recharge to the aquifer systems, (3) assess groundwater return flows to nearby <br />streams, (4) estimate aquifer yields, and (5) assist in determining irrigation water supply when <br />both surface and groundwater sources are used for agricultural lands. <br />It is likely that sufficient pumping data for municipal wells can be obtained directly from the <br />municipalities or can be estimated based on population and demand estimates. <br />Pumping records are not available for most irrigation wells. This situation exists because many <br />agricultural well users do not maintain pumping records and/or do not have metered wells or <br />pumping data are considered by individual users to be private and are not easily obtained. <br />Accordingly, data collection efforts for the SPDSS should combine methods to estimate pumping <br />data with methods to collect actual historic pumping records. The principal alternative methods <br />for estimating irrigation and agricultural pumping include: <br />• Use of consumptive use (CU) estimates for crops combined with irrigation efficiency and <br />available irrigation water supply from surface water to estimate historic groundwater <br />pumping for irrigation <br />• Use of electric power records combined with rating curves for different types and ages of <br />production wells <br />The approach for the well pumping data collection effort consists of six possible tasks that are <br />described below. These tasks are considered to be part of the future data collection effort, and <br />will be used to evaluate the feasibility of using pumping data versus pumping estimation <br />techniques to support the SPDSS. Costs for performing these six tasks, as presented in <br />Chapter 5, relate to different levels of effort (depending on the alternative) to collect historic <br />data, since historic pumping data records are variable in quality and are not readily available for <br />acquisition and review. The final selection of the groundwater pumping estimation method will <br />not be made until the feasibility investigation (Task 1) is performed during the first year of <br />SPDSS implementation. <br />p:data\gen\spdss~final report\chapter 3.doc 3 -20 <br />October 31, 2001 <br />