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<br />OOHJ5 <br /> <br />STATEMENT OF TEE STATE OF COLORADO <br />COLORAOO WATER CONSERVATION BOARD <br /> <br />July 12. 1944 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Water Projects in the State of Colorado which use or contemplate the <br />use of water of the Colorado River System may be segregated, for purposes <br />of description. into groups. aooording to the plaoe of use. whetherl <br /> <br />I - In the Colorado River basin in ,/estern Colorado; or. <br /> <br />II - In the drainage basins of other stream systems. involving expor- <br />tations, i. e. diversions ~ross or through the Continental Divide. <br /> <br />Irrigation is the dominant faotor in stream depletion. and henoe this <br />statement is direoted prinoipally to irrigation wrks and development. At <br />the same time there are other important needs for and benefits from the wa- <br />ter resources of Colorado, including the needs for water' for domestio and <br />munioipal purposes, inoluding sanitation, and for manufacturing and indus- <br />trial purposes, inoluding mining and power generation. as well as reoreation- <br />aI, wild-life and related benefits, all of which are recognized by the State <br />of Colorado, though largely not mentioned in this statement. <br /> <br />I - WESTErn, COLORADO. STATUS <br /> <br />1. The present status of irrigation development in ,festern Colorado has <br />been attained. during a period of about 80 years. largely by individual ini- <br />tiative and private oapital. Operating irrigation works inolude several <br />thousand or many hundreds of individual and partnership ditohes, numerous <br />oooperative or mutual ditch and reservoir companies, several irrigation dis- <br />triot organizations, and a few federal enterprises, principal among whioh <br />are the Grand Valley and Uncompahgre Projects construoted about 190.1 by the <br />U. S. Bureau of Reclamation. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />2. As reported in the 1930 u. S. Census (Irrigation), the irrigation en- <br />terprises in ,lestern Colorndo ino luded 1,683 diversion dams (many ditohes <br />function without the aid of diversion dams); main canals totaling 6,ltlO <br />miles in length. with an aggregate diversion capacity of 36.892 second-feet; <br />and 326 reservoirs of aggregate capacity 140.923 ncre-feet. There were <br />856.413 acres of land irrigated in the season of 1929. and the irrigation <br />systems represented an investment of $28,041-1,806. or 032.80 per aOre irri- <br />gated. Federal irrigation projects (U. S. Bureau of Reolamation. and U. S. <br />Offioe of Indian Affairs) in Colorado (all located west of the Continental <br />Divide) irrigated a total of 86,696 acres in 1929. - equivalent to 2.5 per- <br />oent of the total area reported as irrigated in the State of Colorado, or <br />10.1 peroent of the area irrigated in,the Colorado River basin in Western <br />Colorado. <br /> <br />r <br /> <br />3. As reported in the 1940 U. S. Census (Irrigation) there were 14,142 <br />irrigated farms in Western Colorado. together inv01vlng 1.243,116 acres of <br />