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<br />,,~ -IoJ <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />SOUTH PLATTE RIVER STUDY <br /> <br />Irrigation along the Sout.h Plat.te River has always been subject <br />to good and bad periods depending on t.he amount of vater available tar di- <br />version. All additional ditches lUlli reservoirs were built., t.he return flows <br />increased from 3 sec. ft. per mile in 1891 t.o 6 sec. ft. per mile in 1916. <br /> <br />During that period, in District 2, the Denver-Hudson, the O'Brian and the <br /> <br /> <br />Platte Val.ley canals vere built and the following reservoirs were constructed: <br /> <br /> <br />Horse Creek, Prospect am. lti.lton Lake. other reservoirs like Barr Lake, <br /> <br />Lower Latham aIJd Great Bend were enlarged. <br />The 6 see. !'t. gain per mile over the distance of 216 lIliles trom. <br />Denver to Ju1esburg would result in a total gain of 1296 sec. ft., and if . <br />this gain contiDued tar 365 dq8 it llOu1d result in a year:Q" gain of 473,olio <br /> <br />sec. !'t. or 938,260 &c. ft. per year. <br /> <br />During the t1me the return flow vas increasing, the vater table waa <br /> <br />becomillg higher in certain places and the gl'Ound vater supp:Q" was roade IIIOre <br />dependable. <br />Whenever the Btrelllll fJows beeClll1ll too low to SIlpp:Q" t.he ditches and <br /> <br />reservoirs with a fair anount ~ their decreed rights, as will happen during <br /> <br /> <br />any period of drouth, this large return f1.ow is drastically reduced. NaturaJl,y <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />land owners in the area, being pinched ,for vater, start to sink wells, either <br /> <br /> <br />for new irrigation or~) ~ent the curtailed supp:Q" from their ditch rights. <br /> <br /> <br />In September, 1943, the Colorado Agricultural Experiment Station <br /> <br /> <br />published a booklet, nuse of' Ground Water for Irrigation in the South Platte <br /> <br /> <br />Vall81' of Colorado", by W. E. Cods, and the f'ollowing data is taken trom. that <br /> <br />report. <br />