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<br />t\1'\~i r~'18 <br />u ':,., Jl, 0' '" , <br /> <br />45 <br /> <br /> <br />This case illustrates the essence of voluntary integrated basinwide <br />water management. State government took no initiative nor made any of <br />the decislions involved. Computer model MODSIM (described in Chapter VII <br />of this report) was used by Fort Collins to test the plan's operation <br />over a representative historical period (including significant droughts) <br />before deciding to implement it. The cooperating water right owners <br />benefited' significantly and the municipal-agricultural-industrial part- <br />nership ~s strengthened for further cooperation in the future. ' <br />Whil~ water exchanges have been practiced for several decades, they <br />are larg~ly confined to relatively local areas. Exchanges involving <br />widely s~parated users offer too many uncertainties to be resolved by <br />trial and'error. Fortunately, new technology for computer simulation of <br />the hydrologic system is making pOssible the testing' of more complex and <br />far-reach1ng exchange schemes., The computer win test all possible <br />options ~nd find the most efficient way to operate the storage and <br />divers10n r system. When computer simulation has been proven to be <br />rel iableand accepted by water right owners" the door will be open to <br />significa~t improvements in voluntary basinwide water management. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />, {,'o; <br /> <br />4.5 Conju~ctive Surface-Groundwater Management <br />Durfrlg ,geologic time the South Platte River laid down a hody of <br />reworked !sands and gravel s creating the present-day alluvial aquifer, <br />underlying a major portfon of irrigated area in the basin. This <br />aquifer is, ,in effect, a giant reservoir or a series of more or less <br />interconnected reservoirs. <br /> <br />Students of the South Platte River generally agree that the river's <br /> <br />;'; <br /> <br />i <br />L <br /> <br />i'_,,-__'-' <br /> <br />+. ii;i <br />,~ "li. ,~,,~li>~.... ~' JiiJ!l <br />