BOARD02195

• Board Meeting Date: 9/12/1964
• Description: Minutes
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

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not supply enough water at the time of need,
some because of loss of decrees, some to oper-
ate sprinklers, some for additional land and
some because it is more economical to pump
than to maintain ditches. The result has been
that tOday it can almost be said that the
ditches are supplemental to the pumps instead
of the pumps being supplemental to the ditches.
I have seen in the Brush area two good small
ditch systems completely dry up. The land
being served by them, however, is producing
better crops than ever before with wells.
Practically all of the land served by ditches
in the main valley of the South platte would
still produce with wells with the exception
of Riverside. North Sterling and a few other
isolated cases, because of the lack of aquifer
if the river was completely dry for a period
of time.

Each well pumped is constructing a reser-
voir equal in size to the water withdrawn less
the recirculation in acre-feet that will be
refilled from the first excess river flows.
Taken as a group the wells are creating a
reservoir equivalent to the sum total of the
consumptive use extracted therefrom and no
excess flow will pass down the river until
this reservoir is refilled.

Reservoir building of this nature started
with the first pump and well in the rechargeable
area of the South Platte River and has been
continuing at a faster and faster rate. This
year the additional wells will probably be
measured in the 100's, some small and some
that eventually will require 1000 acre-feet
of recharge storage each.

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Also, the future river flows due to floods
will be less because of soil conservation
activities, terracing, stock dams, enlargements
to present reservoirs - in the Denver area,
Stanley Reservoir is now being enlarged and
there are other places as well - than was the
case 20 to 50 years ago. It is significant