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<br />001480
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<br />II I - StM!lARY
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<br />EST. PRODUCTION. USE lu'lD DISPOSAL OF WATER RESOURCES
<br />STATE OF COLORADO AND UPPER COLORADO RIV"tR BASIN
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<br />19. During the 35-year peri9d from 190B to 1942 inc lusive, the flow of the
<br />Colorado River at Lees Ferry (as recorded after 1921 and calculated for pre-
<br />vious years) averaged 14,308,000 acre-feet annually; the estimated depletions
<br />in the Upper Basin above Lees ,Ferry averaged 2,132,000 acre-feet annually;
<br />and the calculated virgin flow at Lees Ferry during the period averaged
<br />16,440,000 acre-feet per year-
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<br />20. During the 1908-1942 p'~ricd, the unconsumed ol,tflows from Western Co-
<br />lorado averaged 10,581,000 acre-feet annually, - equivalent to 74 percent of
<br />the flow of the Colorado River at Lees Ferry; irrigation depletions in ~lest-
<br />ern ColoradO, including exportations across the Continental Divide, averaged
<br />1,219,000 acre-feet per year, - equivalent to 57 percent of the estimated
<br />total depletions in the Upper Basin above Lees Ferry; and the indicated wa-
<br />ter production (or original runoff) in ~lestern Colorado, averaging 11,000,000
<br />acre-feet annually, amounted to 72 percent of the calculated virgin flew at
<br />Lees Ferry during the period.
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<br />Notel During 1908-1942 the annual exportations across the Continental
<br />1B:Vide in Colorado averaged 33,161 acre-feet per year J and the esti-
<br />mated irrigation depletions in Western Colorado involved an irrigated
<br />acreage of 771,160 acres (average of Census reports for 1909, 1919,
<br />1929 and 1939) at an average rate of 1.54 AF per acre.
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<br />21. The drainage basin of the upper Colorado River in Western Colorado em-
<br />braces 38,482 square miles, which is 37 percent of the total land area of
<br />103,967 square miles in Colarado. East of the Continental Divide, and ex-
<br />olusive of the areM drained by the North Platte River, in North-Central
<br />Colorado, and the Rio Grande, in South-Central Colorado, there are 55,964
<br />square miles of land area drained by the South Platte, Kansas and Arkansas
<br />Rivers, which is 5:3.8 percent of the total land area of the State. As com-
<br />pared vnth a water production of 11,800,000 aore-feet annually in Western
<br />Colorado, - equivalent to an average of 307 acre feet per square mile, -
<br />the average annual water produotion in Eastern Colorado, averaging 2,950,000
<br />acre-feet, was at the rate of 53 acre-feet per square mile of drainage area.
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<br />If
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<br />22. Expressed in terms of irrigated acreages (averages per U. S. Census,
<br />seasons 1909, 1919, 1929 and 1939), the average annurl water. production dur-
<br />ing the olimatic cye Ie 1908-1942, amounting to n,soo,OOo AF. in Western
<br />Colorado, was equivalent to 15.3 AF. per acre, over the 771,160 acres irri-
<br />gated in that section of the State; whereas the production of 2,950,000 AF.
<br />annually in Eastern Colorado was equivalent to 1.7 AF. per aore, over the
<br />1,691,950 acres irrigated in the South Platte, Kansas and Arkansas River
<br />basins in Eastern Colorado.
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