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OGHnl Preliminary Report -7- September 27, 1960 call to your attention to the following: . The general recommendation of Mr. Harold E. Thomas in his paper on "Essentials for Optimum Use of Ground Water Resources" as presented to the Western Resources Confer- ence in 1959, particularly the summary on page 19l of the report of that conference; Colorado State University Experi- ment Station Bulletins 504-5, Ground Water in Colorado, and Water and the Law particularly, and pages 22 to 25 of 505-5. The article of Robert O. Thomas in Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Division proceedings of the American Society of Civil Engineers, December, 1959, page 4l, particularly pages 53 through 63 on the question of ground water manage- ment, the use of ground water reservoirs, conjunctive opera- tion of surface and ground water reservoirs, and the use of public districts in operation, regulation, and financing. A candid examinat ion of the reasons behind ground water I egislation and the resistance to it involves the basic question of the relationship between ground water withdrawals and stream flow. The science of hydrology recognizes water as part of the hydrologic cycle whether it is ground water or surface water. Perhaps an extreme statement would be that if we disregard time and quantity. every withdrawal of water from the ground will effect surface water some place, some time, in some quantity, no matter how infinitt'Simal. The technical subcommittee placed its judgment of ground water withdrawals "which may effect streamflow prom ptly or within an irrigation season" perhaps within four miles or two miles on either side of the stream. The normal rate of movement of ground water to the stream is estimated at four feet per day. The inter-re lationship of ground water withdrawal upon stream flow requires a great deal of additional investigation. So far as is known to your consultants and to its technical subcommittee and advisory committee members, there is no established scientific method of measurement and computation. At the present time the problem of the possible adverse effect of pumping upon stream flow represents a more serious problem in the Arkansas Valley basin than it does in the South Platte basin. Your consultants request additional time to consult with the United States Geological Survey in both the ground water and surface water division, the experiment station of the Colorado State University, the State Engineer, and the Colorado Water Conservation Board, to document and determ ine the needs and possible method of carrying out the assignment in paragraph A above. - 22 -