BOARD00985

• Board Meeting Date: 2/5/1969
• Description: Agenda or Table of Contents, Minutes, Memos
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

I

Of the many factors that were necessary
to make any decision regardless of any law,
only one of the factors was known. The
legislature enacted a law requiring the
registration of wells. Based on that factor
we were able then to plot in any river system
all of the existing wells and we have so
plotted them here. (Mr. Sparks used large
maps hung on the walls to illustrate this
part of his presentation). This shows a
stretch of the Arkansas River from Pueblo to
the state line. Each well shown here bears
a legend showing its depth and its yield in
terms of gallons per minute.

An unknown factor was the vertical fac-
tor of the underground structure. Nothing
was known in any detail about it. Bringing
into play the services of the federal govern-
ment, through the United States Geological
Survey, we embarked upon a comprehensive and
accelerated plan to determine all the factors
necessary to make any intelligent decision of
any river system. Work has progressed under
funding provided by the legislature and the
congress. We have now made basic determina-
tions as to how much groundwater we have in
the state and what the characteristics of
that groundwater are.

I

Over there (pointing) is a map of the
state that shows the areas that were specific-
ally and exhaustively studied. The areas in
green on that map are those areas studied in
great detail. Close to $2 million has been
expended in determining the supsurface condi-
tions and other characteristics of the
aquifers. Those areas constitute the four
major aquifers in the State of Colorado, the
South Platte, the Arkansas, the Rio Grande
and the High Plains.

At this point in history we now have a
considerable volume of information upon which
to base tne application of any water law.