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U <br />� I <br />CHAPTER 1 <br />INTRODUCTION <br />Background <br />' The South Platte River Compact (37 -65 -101, Colorado Revised Statutes, 1973) <br />' divides and apportions waters of the South Platte River basin between the <br />States of Colorado and Nebraska. At present, Colorado does not put to <br />beneficial use the full amount of the waters of the South Platte River to <br />' which it is entitled under the Compact. Thus, both public and private <br />interests in Colorado have been and continue to be interested in developing <br />additional waters for beneficial use. <br />While proposals for the further development of the South Platte River date <br />back to 1944, with the authorization of the Pick -Sloan Missouri River Basin <br />Project, the lapse of time and changing circumstances suggest that a broad <br />reevaluation of the opportunities for utilizing Colorado's share of the <br />waters of the South Platte River is needed. In recognition of this fact, <br />Senator Gary Hart, in 1979, proposed to then Secretary of the Interior <br />Cecil Andrus that the U.S. Department of the Interior fund an effort <br />designed to assist Colorado in evaluating the alternative means by which it <br />might proceed to beneficially use the remaining waters of the South Platte <br />River basin to which it is entitled. <br />Federal and state officials subsequently agreed that such a study would be <br />undertaken by the State with monies provided from the U.S. Bureau of <br />Reclamation's general investigation fund. To that end, the Lower Missouri <br />Region, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, provided funds to the Colorado Water <br />Conservation Board, which, in turn, obtained the services of Woodward -Clyde <br />Consultants to prepare this report. <br />-3- <br />