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. . . ."1 r l~ .-, ~iu I i CRAPrER 1 SUM MAR Y, RES U L T S, AND CON C L U S ION S INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY The residents of the lO\oler South Platte River Basin are faced with a paradoxical water problem. In many of the past 100 years, such as in 1965, the flow of the river during the months of May and June has been so great that flood damages are sustained. However, in nearly every year, the flow of the South Platte is so low in July, August, and September that serious irrigation shortages are sustained. Narro\ols Dam has been proposed to provide a method of regulating this widely fluctuating flow. The Dam, to be located about seven and one-half miles upstream from Fort Morgan, Colorado, would provide benefits from supplemental irrigation supplies, flood control, fish and wildlife enhancement, recreation, pollution abatement, and sediment control. General The Narrows service area consists of the broad valley lands and narrow strips of the adjoining uplands lying on both sides of the South Platte River between the damsite and the Colorado-Nebraska State Line in the northeast corner of Colorado. The principal feature of the Wlit \olould be the Narrows Dam and Reservoir to be constructed on the South Platte River about seven and one-half miles west of Fort Morgan, Colorado. The reservoir could provide supplemental water for 33 existing irrigation systems. The combined acreage served historically by these systems amoWlts to about 172,000 acres, including about 28,000 acres of class 6w land*. Additional irrigable lands totaling approximately 22 000 acres have been served by these systems whenever water supplies we;e ample, but since ample supplies have been seldom available, these lands have been treated as non irrigated in the historic * Class 6W lands are irrigated but do not meet Bureau of Reclamation Standards for irrigable land.