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<br />1547 <br /> <br />August 19, 1999 <br /> <br />the upper South Platte or its tributaries and releases from gravel lakes storage is used to satisfy <br />downstream agricultural demands. <br /> <br />The Colorado State Engineers Office has promulgated strict rules requiring the use of clay liners <br />or slurry cutoff walls when sand and gravel pits are converted to water storage. The regulations <br />are intended to prevent leakage from adjacent alluvial aquifers into the gravel lakes when lake <br />levels are drawn down. Leakage into the gravel pits is undesirable because it could reduce <br />stream flows or injure local water users relying on wells. <br /> <br />A preliminary assessment of the potential for gravel lake storage by GEl (1998), identified <br />approximately 13,000 ac-ft of available storage along the Arkansas River. Based on the age, <br />scale and topographic contour interval of the USGS mapping, GEl estimates that the actual <br />potential is likely to be much higher. <br /> <br />Modeling Approach to Evaluation and Analvsis of Storage Utilization <br /> <br />Similar to Pueblo Reservoir, storage in Gravel Lakes downstream from Pueblo Reservoir could <br />meet a portion of the storage needs that have been identified. Gravel Lakes also have the <br />advantages of being able to store water delivered to it from upstream sources as well as through <br />exchange. The amount of water that would be stored by entities from upstream sources would <br />need to be determined by each potential participating entity. <br /> <br />Po,tential sources of inflow to the gravel lakes storage space include: <br />. Winter Water; <br />. Exchanged Water (e.g. CSU return flows for exchange); <br />. Water rights transferred and exchanged (e.g. Colorado Canal water rights) or water <br />purchased and transferred (e.g. storage to regulate replacement water for well pumping); <br />. Transfer and storage of water from upstream reservoirs. <br />. Project water for release to downstream users <br /> <br />The exchange potential into the Gravel Lakes would be calculated on a daily basis using ArkEx <br />and compiled on a monthly basis for use in MODSIM to determine the additional potential for <br />storage of return flows by exchange in the Gravel Lakes. <br /> <br />Potential beneficiaries of gravel lakes storage could include: <br />· Winter Water <br />. Colorado Springs Utilities <br />· Other FY A entities <br />· Pueblo Board of Water Works <br />· St. Charles Mesa <br />· Pueblo West Metropolitan District <br />· Public Service Company <br />. Storage to regulate replacement water for well pumping <br /> <br />In addition to adding Native Arkansas River inflows, the MODSIM network will be modified <br />with additional storage nodes to separately account for storage in gravel lakes near Canon City <br /> <br />8 <br /> <br />~ <br />