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<br />OC1995 <br /> <br />of water to which it is entitled, more water is available for the other <br /> <br /> <br />state. This type of operation is conducive to waste. <br /> <br /> <br />The integrated use of the enlarged Twin lakes and Sugar loaf <br /> <br /> <br />reservoirs will be able to fully control the headwater flows of the Arkan- <br /> <br /> <br />sas River. They can impound early spring flows and hold the water at <br /> <br /> <br />high elevations until required for irrigation, thereby reducing evapor- <br /> <br /> <br />ation losses. Other major reservoirs that have potential for improved <br /> <br /> <br />water management extend downstream from Rocky Ford to approximately <br /> <br /> <br />lamar. lake Henry and lake Meredith are filled from the Colorado Canal, and <br /> <br /> <br />the stored water is later exchanged for river water, rather than direct <br /> <br /> <br />release for lands under these particular irrigation systems. Dye and <br /> <br /> <br />Holbrook lakes are used by the Holbrook Canal Company to supplement their <br /> <br /> <br />river diversions. Horse Creek and Adobe Creek Reservoirs are owned by <br /> <br /> <br />the Fort lyon Canal Company. They obtain their water supply from Horse <br /> <br /> <br />and Adobe Creeks, respectively and from the Arkansas River. Water from <br /> <br />these reservoirs is delivered directly into the Fort lyon Canal. <br /> <br /> <br />The largest reservoirs in the lower Arkansas Valley are known as the <br /> <br /> <br />Great Plains System. They are owned by the Amity Canal Company. These <br /> <br /> <br />reservoirs are relatively shallow with approximately 85,000 acre-feet of <br /> <br />dead storage, consequently evaporation is extremely high. It has been <br /> <br /> <br />estimated by Colorado State University that not over ten per cent of the <br /> <br /> <br />water diverted into the Great Plains reservoirs is used beneficially. <br /> <br /> <br />All reservoirs in the Arkansas Valley, with the exception of those <br /> <br /> <br />involved with the Frying Pan-Arkansas Project, are privately owned and <br /> <br /> <br />are used to supplement junior ditch priorities of the canal companies <br /> <br /> <br />that own them. The decreed capacity of the major privately owned reser- <br /> <br /> <br />voirs receiving water from the Arkansas River exceeds 500,000 acre-feet. <br /> <br />Ground Water Reservoir <br /> <br /> <br />Utilization of the ground water reservoir is limited only by its <br /> <br /> <br />"safe yield" and its affect upon senior appropriations. Recharge to the <br /> <br /> <br />aquifer is derived from irrigation return flow, precipitation and natural <br /> <br />stream flow. Estimates of the quantity of water that can be withdrawn <br /> <br /> <br />annually from the aquifer of the Arkansas River without materially affecting <br /> <br /> <br />direct flow diversions during the normal growing season have not been made <br /> <br /> <br />as doing so would require complex computer studies. Water withdrawn from <br /> <br />- 12 - <br />