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<br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Water Requirelllents and Utilization <br /> <br /> <br />The Plains Use Area <br /> <br />Administration of water.-The delivery of the water supply <br />available from the mounta.in area is, for the most part, administered <br />through the private irrigation companies which hold the buJ.k of the <br />water rights. The water is apportioned to individual users on the <br />basis of stock ownerships in the companies. Administration is <br />complicated by extensive and intricate systems of exchange and the <br />transfer or renting of water shares. Further complications arise <br />from the high degree to which water is reused. <br /> <br />Ground.Water Development--Development of ground water for <br />irrigation is extensive where suitable aquifers are available. <br />Alluvial deposits underlying portions of the basin, notably along <br />larger tributary channels and near the main river channel, yield <br />modera.te to large quanti ties of water to irrigation wells. The USGS <br />preliminary report "Ground Water Investigations on the Lower Cache <br />la Poudre River Ba.sin" cites the number of irrigation wells in the <br />Cache la Poudre Basin together .nth irrigation pumpage estimates for <br />the years 1940 and 1959. <br /> <br />Year <br /> <br />Quantity of water pumped <br />(a.cre-feet) <br /> <br />61,000 <br />85,800 <br /> <br />No. of wells <br /> <br />1940 <br />1959 <br /> <br />593 <br />1,100 <br /> <br />The Plains Reservoirs-.The need for regulatory storage in the <br />basin was recognized during early stages of irrigation development. <br />Si tea for small reservoirs were available in natural dra.inageways <br />and shallw depressional areas. The best of these sites were developed <br />rapidly, with nearly all of the present basin reservoirs being com- <br />pleted prior to 1920. <br /> <br />The group of plains reservoirs constitutes 56 reservoirs with <br />a total decreed capacity of 161,300 acre-feet. The individual <br />reservoirs range in size from less than 100 acre-feet to 17,689 acre- <br />feet (Windsor Reservoir). The ca.ne.1s feeding the reservoirs are <br />rather lengthy and seepage losses during filling periods are probably <br />quite high. <br /> <br />n <br />