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<br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />EXECUTIVE SUMMARY <br /> <br />The Lower Arkansas Water Management Association (LAWMA) is a non-profit <br />corporation that was formed to replace depletions from its members' well pumping. At the <br />present time, LAWMA has 170 members who own or operate 551 wells. Of this total <br />membership, 150 are irrigation members who own or operate 429 wells, 14 are municipal <br />members who own or operate 95 wells, and 6 are commercial members who own or operate <br />27 wells. LAWMA's primary service area is the Arkansas River main stem area below John <br />Martin Reservoir, although it has a few members out of the main stem area and a few <br />members in the main stem area above John Martin Dam. Well pumping by LAWMA members <br />was estimated at 102,378 acre-feet in 1994, of which 88,495 acre-feet occurred through <br />irrigation wells and 13,883 acre-feet occurred through municipal and commercial wells. <br /> <br />An augmentation program has been formulated and recommended for LAWMA in this <br />feasibility study. It contemplates deliveries of water to replace depletions both to Colorado <br />surface rights and to usable Stateline flow based on the average pumping during the previous <br />5 years using certain "presumptive well depletion factors" described herein and results of the <br />Kansas H-I Model. <br /> <br />Water years 1990-94 were used as a representative analysis period in this feasibility <br />study. The pumping during this period is judged to have been larger than normal, and is <br />therefore suitable for analysis purposes. The main stem irrigation pumping by LAWMA's <br />present membership during these years averaged 78,555 acre-feet annually during this period. <br />Slightly more than one-half of this pumping was situated so as to affect the Arkansas River <br />above the Buffalo headgate. The depletions from the pumping above the Buffalo headgate <br />were estimated to average 13,827 acre-feet annually. Well depletions that occur to the <br />Arkansas River during November through March and those that occur below the Buffalo Canal <br />headgate do not affect Colorado surface rights, but require replacement of usable Stateline <br />flow. The depletions to usable Stateline flow were estimated to average 7,976 acre-feet <br />annually during this period using results of selected runs with the Kansas H-I Model. <br /> <br />LAWMA presently has replacement water available to it from a number of sources, <br />including a) credits for releases from the Kansas Transit Loss Account, b} return flow from <br />Fryingpan-Arkansas Project water used by Fort Lyon shareholders who are LAWMA members, <br /> <br />1 <br />