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<br />Still there were shortages and our farm- <br />ers began to look for another source. There <br />is some under our feet and with better <br />techniques in drilling wells, changing the <br />cropping practices, and cheaper power we've <br />drilled a lot of wells in both the Arkansas I <br />and South Platte and even in the San Luis <br />Valley to supplement a short supply of surface <br />water, particularly in the latter part of the <br />season. Development on the Arkansas and the <br />Platte Rivers has come to the point now, and <br />to some extent in the San Luis Valley, where <br />the man with merely a ditch water right, <br />unless it is an extremely ancient one, is out <br />of water during August. So they all have re- <br />verted to pumping and that pumping of water <br />from an underground supply has maintained an <br />economy in a half a dozen counties.in,the <br />Arkansas Basin and more counties than that in <br />the South Platte Basin and is very helpful in <br />the San Luis Valley. <br /> <br />If we go right down the line and admin- <br />ister the water in the order of their priori- <br />ties, all the wells are dead. Half or more <br />of the economy of both the Platte and the <br />Arkansas Valleys are lost to us, Now there <br />is a way to amalgamate, integrate the uses. <br />I think Mr. Geissinger is aware of it and I <br />believe that Senate Bill. No. 37, had it not <br />been limited to one year, would have been <br />very useful. Being limited to a year, those <br />men I talked to about it said 'Oh, heck, my <br />well may not be regulated this year anyhow, <br />why do I want to go through that gobbledygook <br />preparing a plan of operation and making a <br />presentation to you and a determination?' So <br />there has been little or no activity gener- <br />ated from Senate Bill No. 37. On the other I <br />side of the coin there has been quite a <br />little bit of interest in Senate Bill No. 40 <br />which allowed changes in points of diversion <br />from one ditch point to another on an alter- <br />nate basis. I think the same would have been <br />true with Senate Bill No. 37 had it not been <br />limited to .one season"'s use.' <br />