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- Hylirology In past operations the diversion requirement has been partially satisfied through the exercise of the existing water rights. However, because of different priority dates of the water rights anli the erratic flows in the river, it has not been possible for the Iiitch companies to divert full or timely supplies to satisfy the requirements. FUTURE UPSTREAM DEVELOPMENT Past depletions by upstream irri@ators are re~lected in the historic flow of the Purgatoire River. No future increase in such depletions is foreseen. Some upstream rights senior to those of the project are fully exercised at present. Others have not been exercised for many years, and it is believed that they are not likely to be reactivated in the future, Should there be any new developments, their rights would be junior, and could not adversely affect the project water supply, The general absence of sui table aquifers for wells precludes depletion of the supplies through ground water development. '. ". WATER UTILIZATJ:ON Historic Use In the project area, historic diversions have averaged 53,200 acre-feet per year as shown in table~. This total is composed of 51,700 acre-feet diverted from the Purgatoire River and 1,500 acre- feet from small arroyos which WaS intercepted by the Model Ditch. Several factors have limited the effectiveness of these historic diversions. No storage facilities have been available for any of the systems except Model, Lacking storage facilities, the water users have made diversions whenever water was available regardless of whether or not it could have been used more bene- ficially further Iiownstream or at a later date. Because of this practice, historic diversions were related more closely to stream flows than to crop requirements. In adliition to erratic stream flows and late priority dates of the rights, severe depletion of storage space in the Model Reservoir l~ :' >,.' .("