WSP04784

• File Number: 8103
• Description: Arkansas river Basin Legislation
• State: CO
• Basin: Arkansas
• Water Division: 2
• Date: 9/1/1968
• Author: W W Wheeler and Asso
• Title: Water Legislation Investigations for the Arkansas River Basin in Colorado Volume II Comprehensive Report September 1968
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

[C1978

25,200 acre feet. The remaining 50 to 60 percent of the land must rely

upon direct flow and storage from reservoirs. Thus, the owners of wells

obtain their proportionate share of the surface water and use well water,

when needed, to finish off the crops, in contrast to the other users

under the ditch, who must rely on the reduced supply of surface water

during these critical months. The inequities to those who do not have

wells,and/or cannot drill them because of the lack of ground water under

their lands,are readily apparent.

Investigations were not made of the individual ditches and their

diversions above Canon City. It is believed that these rights can be

adequately protected in any conjunctive use if adopted in the basin below

Pueblo by the use of the Canon City gage as an index station. In protecting

these rights, it would be necessary to develop a formula at the index

station which would permit upstream water rights to divert out of priority,

so to speak, when the conjunctive use in the lower basin would result in

calls which would not have occurred under pre-pumping conditions. To

accomplish this, detailed computer studies will be required, in which the

analog and digital computers are used. These studies are now in the process

of being made by the U.S. Geological Survey.

It is axiomatic that, to best utilize the water resources in the

Arkansas River basin, water laws should be enacted which would permit the

integrated use of the basin water resources. To illustrate this point,

the total average wi~ter diversions for the canals between Pueblo a~d the

state I ine for the 1926-1966 period were \94,000 acre-feet, or 29 per cent

of the total growing season diversions. The storage of these flows, and

their release for the timely appl ication of water, would result, it is be-

lieved, in far greater benefits to the agricultural economy in the basin.

The water quality at Pueblo averages about 250 parts per million and

is excellent for agricultural and municipal use. Downstream, the qual ity

deteriorates progressively, and at the state line averages I ,BOO parts per

million. During periods of low flows at the state line, the quality

averages about 3.900 parts per million. Any increased depletions of the

water supply in the basin would result in a further deterioration in

the quality at the state line, and sufficient water would have to be

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