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<br />1 06~) <br /> <br />and storage space is available in Pueblo Reservoir, and until all wells are <br />equipped with metering devices, the most practical plan appears to be the <br />fo Hawing: <br /> <br />1. All shareholder and company-owned wells should be made alternate <br />points of diversion for water available to the Oxford Farmers Ditch under its <br />second adjudicated decree dated February 26, 1887. These wells should also <br />request priority dates as of the date of first use to insure the possibility of <br />pumping under regulation during periods when the alternate point of diversion <br />authority is out of priority. There is no point in tying any of the wells to <br />the 1867 decree because river water for this decree is continuously available <br />for all practical purposes. If the company wells were tied to the 1867 decree <br />it is conceivable that administrative authorities could require the Company to <br />reduce diversions from the river to 6 or 7 cfs and fill the decree from the well <br />supply, thus causing the Company additional costs for pumping power. <br /> <br />2. The Oxford Farmers Ditch Company should relinquish or abandon <br />40 cfs of its decree dated February 26, 1887, for ll6 cfs. This would reduce the <br />decree to 76 cfs, which is the portion of this decree that can be put to benefi- <br />cial use under the augmentation plan. The first and second decrees would then <br />provide a total of 89.4 cfs which is sufficient to have met all headgate require- <br />ments in all but one month (July 1963, when the requirement was 5,600 ac-ft and <br />the diversion would have been 5,500 ac-ft) during the 22-year period 1949-70 and <br />much more than realistic requirements for any month except July. <br /> <br />3. Neither Company nor shareholder wells should be permitted to pump <br />when the Company is diverting both its decrees in full. <br /> <br />4. When the headgate diversion rate is between 60 cfs and 83 cfs the <br />Company-ow"ed we lls should be pumped if, the water is','needed, by, crops. The <br />diversion rate of 60 cfs'is 'an ~rbitrary limit sele~ted because most of the time <br />it is sufficient to supply crop consumptive use. Shareholders' wells should <br />not be pumped because if all wells were pumped total water available would exceed <br />the decreed amount of 89.4 cfs. <br /> <br />5. When the headgate diversion rate is between 13.4 cfs and 60 cfs <br />the water provided may be insufficient for crop needs, and wells could be used <br />to increase the total diversion rate to 89.4 cfs. From an administrative stand- <br />point it must be assumed that all individually-owned wells will be used. Table 3 <br />shows that the combined yield of the 73 wells used to irrigate Oxford Farmers <br />land is about 50 cfs. Therefore, when the individually-owned wells are pumped <br />the headgate diversion rate would have to be reduced to about 40 cfs. This will <br />be more expensive than using the 'wh9~e,'hea4gate d-iv~:rs\PiJ.',!JUt is necessary to <br />insure that ditch water plus well water does not exceed 89.4 cfs. Figure 2 shows <br />that the total diversion rate is between 40 cfs and 60 cfs less than six per- <br />cent of the time, and this is when such additional expense will be incurred. <br />When the head gate diversion rate is 34 cfs or less all wells may be pumped. <br /> <br />6. When the 1887 decree is out of priority and the headgate diversion <br />is reduced to 13.4 cfs the wells could no longer be pumped legally under the <br />alternate point of diversion authority. This situation would occur every year <br /> <br />- 23 - <br />