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<br />(; on ' ~" .", <br />. -., tr:" <br />...".;,1.,\. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Table 3. <br /> <br />Calculated Annual Irrigation Water Requirement <br />per Irrigated Acre of Study Reach <br /> <br />Year Ac-ft/ac <br />1947 1.46 <br />1948 1.59 <br />1949 1.58 <br />1950 1. 64 <br />1951 1. 30 <br />1952 1.83 <br />1953 1.69 <br />1954 1.86 <br />1955 1.64 <br />1956 1.53 <br />1957 1.49 <br />1958 1.45 <br />1959 1.76 <br />1960 1.86 <br />1961 1.34 <br />Ave, 1.53 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Water rights <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Water rights in the study reach carry appropriation dates beginning <br /> <br />with May 1, 1872, and extending to nearly the present time. Except for <br /> <br /> <br />times of flood on the South Platte River, only the earliest of these <br /> <br /> <br />water rights are in priority. The amount and distribution of direct-flow <br /> <br /> <br />rights diverted between the Balzac and Julesburg gages which have appro- <br /> <br />priation dates senior to 1897 are given in Table 4. This table is arranged <br /> <br /> <br />with the point-of-diversion locations in order from upstream to downstream <br /> <br /> <br />along the top and priorities arranged from senior to junior along the left <br /> <br /> <br />side; therefore, the resulting display of amounts of the rights provides <br /> <br /> <br />a picture or graph of rights by location and priorities, It is readily <br /> <br /> <br />apparent from the table that the most senior rights tend to be at the <br /> <br /> <br />upper end of the reach, and the most junior rights at the lower end. As <br /> <br /> <br />discussed earlier, such an arrangement is conducive to good reach efficiency <br /> <br />in that the junior rights are able to take advantage of the return flows <br /> <br /> <br />from the upstream senior diversions, For instance, the Liddle Ditch has <br /> <br /> <br />very junior rights of 10 and 12 cubic feet per second, but is often able <br /> <br /> <br />to divert all or most of this amount even when many of the upstream senior <br /> <br />-23- <br />