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<br />9 <br /> <br />WATER USE <br /> <br />-' <br /> <br />A portion of the lands being converted from agricultural to municipal use <br />In the metropolitan area are dry farmed and It Is necessary when these lands <br />are converted for additional water suppl ies to be developed. Under normal <br />Irrigation practices the amount of water required at the farm headgate for <br />Irrigation of one acre of farmland Is adequate to supply about one gross <br />acre of urbanized land. Under average conditIons approximately 60% of the <br />urbanized area will consist of lawns and parks, requiring irrigation. Water <br />available for the other 40% of the land which is not irrigated can be used <br />to supply the normal household and industrial requirements. On the average, <br />agricultural land requires two and a half to three acre-feet per acre per <br />year at the farm headgate for one acre of land. Of this amount approximately <br />40 to 50% Is consumptively used through evaporation from the soil surface <br />and by plant transpiration. On the other hand, the method of irrigating <br />lawns is much more efficient than farm irrigation, ranging up to 85 to 90% <br />efficiency, Therefore, return flow from Irrigation of lawns is considerably <br />less than return flow from irrigated farm land. The amount of return flow <br />from Irrigated farming is substantial and ranges between 30 and 50% of the <br />water app lied. <br /> <br />During the non-Irrigation season most municipal water is used for household <br />and Industrial purposes, Measurements throughout the winter months Indicate <br />that that the consumptive use of, municipal water in these months ranges from <br />about one-half to about two percent of the water diverted. These values will <br />depend to a large extent upon the condition of the sanitary sewers. In the <br />case of old Sewer systems the water loss from these systems becomes a part <br />of the ground water supply whereas in other cases the system may show more <br />than 100% return to the stream through the sewage plant because of Inflow <br />Into the sanitary sewer line from surrounding areas where the water table <br />Is higher than the ,sewer 1 ine, <br /> <br />.' <br /> <br />With the encroachment of urban areas into irrigated agriculture areas the <br />irrigation water used on these lands is converted to municipal use. Some <br />municipalities have acquired early priority direct flow water rights to supply <br />their entire needs. Others, such as Denver, have a combination of early and <br />late priority direct flow water rights which are inadequate to supply all <br />of the cities needs. In these cases storage water is developed or acquired <br />to firm up the supply during periods of heavy demand when stream flaw is <br />Inadequate to supply direct flow rights. An extremely low run off year <br />may be used to determine the yield and adequacy of direct flow water rights <br />for supplying municipal needs. When carryover storage water and water from <br />direct flow rights are used conjunctively, however, an extremely dry year <br />may not be critical with regard to provision of a firm water supply. In <br />these cases it Is necessary to select a series of law run-off years to make <br />studies of the yield of the direct flow and storage rights throughout the <br />entire period to determine whether the rights are adequate to meet the city's <br />requirements. <br /> <br />.- <br /> <br />Under the Federal Decree, in Consolidated Cases Numbers 5016 and 5017, <br />differences between Western Slope Inteeests, the Northern Colorado Water <br />Conservancy District and the cities of Colorado Springs, Englewood and <br />Denver were resolved. One of the provisions in this degree was that return <br />flow from transmountaln diversions by the cities of Colorado Springs and <br />Denver was to be re-used, provided such use can be done economically and <br />Is legally feasible. The State Engineer has ruled that "...the city of <br />Colorado Springs Is permitted to ~tilize the waters diverted from the Blue <br />