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<br />OOQ058 <br /> <br />South Platte Decision Support, 2 <br /> <br />Agricultural irrigators in northeastern Colorado hold some of the most senior water rights on the <br />river but, as upstream uses change, water quality becomes an increasingly important issue for <br />downstream users, no matter what their date of priority. <br /> <br />These situations illustrate some of the driving forces behind the increasing competition for water in <br />the South Platte Basin. <br /> <br />Constrained Supply <br /> <br />After years of litigation and a forty million dollar Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), Denver <br />Water failed in its attempt to obtain permits for the Two Forks reservoir. Similarly, plans for the <br />Narrows reservoir on the South Platte have been abandoned, and permits for the Wildcat reservoir, <br />on a tributary, were denied. There is now, effectively, a moratorium on large-scale structural <br />solutions such as these, limiting the set of available alternatives with which to meet new demands. <br />In addition to the ban on construction of major new storage facilities, initiation of new trans- <br />mountain diversions is practically prohibited. <br /> <br />? <br /> <br />The institutional complexity of water rights on the over-appropriated South Platte further squeezes <br />the system. Transfers of water rights from one point to another affect the return flows from that <br />water right and, in turn, may injure downstream water users that depend on those return flows. The <br />State Engineer's Office (SEa) administers water withdrawals and transfers and is charged with <br />curtailing a withdrawal that will injure a senior right. <br /> <br />As the river system operates closer and closer to its absolute capacity, the SEa's decisions become <br />increasingly critical. The new South Platte Water Rights Management System (SPWRMS) has <br />already proven itself valuable to the Division Engineer's office, but the system lacks the physically ? <br />based modeling components it would require to be an effective planning tool. <br /> <br />Finding Solutions <br /> <br />Partial solutions to these evolving demands and constraints may lie in better coordination of <br /> <br /> <br />reservoir operations, further development of conjunctive use potential, and more innovative trading <br /> <br /> <br />between decreed water users. <br /> <br />In some cases, exchanges have allowed more efficient use of existing supplies. One well- <br /> <br /> <br />documented case involves the City of Fort Collins, Water Supply and Storage Co., North Poudre <br /> <br /> <br />Irrigation Co., and the Platte River Power Authority. The trade was consummated because the <br /> <br /> <br />entities involved were able to use computer modeling to evaluate the trade before any water actually <br /> <br />changed hands. <br /> <br />04/11/95 <br />