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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 />Senior Absolute Water Rights <br />The senior absolute water rights are predominantly agricultural and are most <br />critical in the river reach between the North Fork-South Fork confluence and <br />the Coal Creek gage location on the mainstem. The agricultural diversions <br />in this reach include the Oak Ridge Ditch, Highland Oitch, Miller Creek <br />Ditch, and other smaller diversions. The total rights of these ditches <br />amounts to over 400 cfs. <br /> <br />An examination of the streamflow records at the gage points bounding this <br />reach of the river shows that the stream is losing flow during the <br />irrigation season except for periods of high flow and low diversions. <br />Conversely, the White River is gaining flow below the Coal Creek gage <br />during the irrigation season. Therefore, the stream reach above the Coal <br />Creek gage is the critical section in the operation study. <br /> <br />The senior absolute rights above Coal Creek serve approximately 9300 acres <br />of irrigated lands. Diversion records indicate that the application rates <br />in some instances exceed 12 acre-feet per acre. The crops are primarily <br />meadow hay or alfalfa with some small grains. Over the average growing <br />season, the total consumptive use of the crops is from 1.5 to 2.0 acre-feet <br />per acre. Thus, most of the 8 to 12 feet of water applied is not consumed <br />and returns to the river system either as surface flow or ground water <br />inflow. It is this large component of return flow that augments the river <br />flow below the agricultural lands and contributes to making the White River <br />a gaining stream below Coal Creek. <br /> <br />Figure V-2 illustrates the general inter-relationship between agricultural <br />diversions, return flow, and tributary inflow. The amount of streamflow <br />required at the upper end of the reach is dependent upon all three <br />parameters and their points of occurrence. The agricultural diversions vary <br />from year to year, depending on many factors too complex to simulate under <br />this study. It was assumed that the agricultural rights were diverted at <br />their decreed rates during the month of July, and that the July diversion <br />represented a total of 35 percent of the annual quantity diverted. The <br />remainder of the irrigation season was assumed to require diversions of 10 <br /> <br />V-3 <br />