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<br />- and this is '02 at present, isn't it?
<br />
<br />Jack- Yes. And that...we do have a greater...they have a greater record than that gaging area. So
<br />hopefully, the last few years.. .no, I won't go there. This is major reservoir storage below Kersey.
<br />Now, this indicates...I think there's a couple ofthings to look at here. The solid lines are flows in
<br />the river. These two lines with the little triangles are the storage lines. And you notice they
<br />generally, it flattens out, they can't get any more storage into the reservoirs right into March
<br />through May and then they draw down. You'll note that the drawdown is occurring much sooner,
<br />and this is consistent with what we talked about last time. They were able to fill fairly well, but
<br />certainly they are dropping off, and you can see the Kersey gage again, we're dropping way off as
<br />far as flow.
<br />
<br />- In normal conditions, they retain a high level of 250 units, acre-feet, through June. And
<br />I imagine that was maintained for the.. .they would let some out.. . (inaudible) delivering them.
<br />
<br />Jack-A little bit of that, but much ofthat can be done...we go back to here, at Kersey, generally
<br />speaking, in this area, the river's flowing high as a free river, they can pull off the river. And so
<br />that way they don't draw on the reservoirs.
<br />
<br />_ - My point is this year, there's no more water coming in, Lehigh (?) should be (inaudible)...
<br />
<br />Jack - We will see this fall down in a year. You'll see in my highlights a little later that we expect
<br />many of these reservoirs to be empty by mid-summer. And some ofthat affects some of the
<br />recreational users of the State Park lakes, as well. And some of the private. . .Empire Reservoir,
<br />for example. This is reservoir storage above Kersey, just some selected reservoirs, and you can
<br />see the drawdown, we were not able to fill those, and I expect this drawdown to continue down. I
<br />don't want to spend too much time there. Did want to mention that in the Platte Basin our
<br />groundwater resources are also being affected. Though some of the people who use those are able
<br />to continue to have supplies, we are going to be drawing on those resources more heavily than we
<br />had in the past, and that will have some long-term effects. Some of these are not easily renewable,
<br />for example, the Denver Basin aquifers are not easily renewed, in fact, are generally considered to
<br />be nonrenewable resources. There are some impact conditions, and I want to run down this just
<br />briefly. The reservoir storage is being used for irrigation rather than direct flow, we talked about
<br />that a little it. They're projected to be empty by mid-summer. Well short of meeting the crop
<br />demands. One of the things with the crops, and I shouldn't speak for the agriculturists, so if 1'm
<br />wrong please correct me, that right toward the end of the growing season, you need to give some
<br />additional water to those crops so that they can mature properly. Many times these reservoirs we
<br />use to make sure that we had that kind of a water supply to the crops, that's not going to be
<br />available this year. So the real impact to the crops is going to be seen, particularly ifthere isn't
<br />any long-term_?-, ...point to you and say, bring me the rain at that point in time. Kersey, 171
<br />cfs, long term average about 1,100, we're about a 10th of what we would normally have, again, we
<br />are still low at the state line as well. And 1'm only kidding to say we try not to give any water to
<br />Nebraska, certainly...
<br />
<br />Flow at Kersey has reached a 25-year low, direct flow calls on the main stem and tributaries
<br />usually do not occur until late April, this year by April 4th we had senior calls on the Platte, above
<br />
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