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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 />a case-by-case basis. LA WMA' s consultants do not believe it will be necessary to apply these <br />well depletion factors to well pumping that affects the Arkansas River below the diversion <br />facilities for Buffalo Canal since this pumping does not affect Colorado surface rights and its <br />depletion to usable Stateline flow will be calculated with the Kansas H-I Model3-1 . It was not <br />necessary to apply the center pivot sole-source well depletion rate in this analysis because <br />only a few LAWMA members operate center pivots above the Buffalo Canal, and these center <br />pivots are used on land that historically received ditch water. The increment of additional <br />depletion with these center pivots is small in relation to the depletion from the historical flood <br />irrigation of the lands. <br /> <br />The differences in the depletion rates are justified because the consumption of water <br />used for supplemental irrigation is significantly less than that from sole-source water. <br />Supplemental well pumping is required to make up only part of the total irrigation requirement, <br />most of which is satisfied by surface water. The irrigators generally pump more than is <br />required strictly to satisfy this part of the total irrigation requirement. Since water is often <br />pumped into a lateral and commingled with the available surface water, one reason the <br />irrigators pump the additional water is to increase the available head so that the irrigation can <br />be accomplished quicker and with less labor. Another reason may be that the irrigators are <br />uncertain about the adequacy of their future surface supplies, so they pump their wells just <br />to be sure. When the surface water does become available, then the overall irrigation <br />efficiency goes down. Another may be that the wells are pumped so that the irrigators can <br />finish out a run of water. For various reasons, the irrigation efficiency of well water used to <br />supplement surface water, and therefore the consumption, is less than for well water used <br />as a sole-source for irrigation. <br /> <br />Table 5 shows the 1990-94 average pumping amounts and estimated depletions for <br />the wells that potentially affect Colorado surface rights. This well pumping averaged 41,893 <br />acre-feet annually, and the well depletions averaged 13,827 acre-feet annually. The well <br />depletions during April through October averaged 9,099 acre-feet annually, which except for <br />the commercial pumping in the Amity to Lamar segment, were 66 percent of the annual well <br />depletions based on ground-water response functions from the Kansas H-I Model. The <br /> <br />3...1 The Kansas H-I Model is a computer model that was used by Kansas in Kansas v. Colorado <br />to evaluate the impact of changes in certain hydrologic and institutional conditions of the flow in the <br />Arkansas River at the Kansas-Colorado stateline. <br /> <br />13 <br />