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<br />Page Six <br /> <br />Once the groundwater developers realized that the potentiometric head would be <br /> <br />depleted in the near future, they started drilling to the bottom of the <br /> <br />aquifers. This is today's usual practice. Wells constructed to the bottom of <br /> <br />the aquifers will not be faced with the question of physically running out of <br /> <br />water after the potentiometric head is removed, although they will encounter <br /> <br />an increase in pumping costs. Thereafter, the de-watering of the aquifers <br /> <br />will be a gradual process. As the aquifers are de-watered, more wells will be <br /> <br />needed to maintain a constant rate of delivery and capital and maintenance <br /> <br />costs will increase. Pumping costs will also continue to increase. While <br /> <br />there are some potentially serious social and economic problems arising as a <br /> <br />result of these two situations, which may need to be addressed as a public <br /> <br />concern, neither problem would appear to present an absolute barrier to the <br /> <br />use of the nontributary groundwater resource. <br /> <br />Well permits to extract groundwater from the bedrock aquifers in the Denver <br /> <br />Basin are being issued on the basis of a projected minimum 100-year aquifer <br /> <br />life. If aquifers were actually being depleted at a 100 year rate, dramatic <br /> <br />reductions in pressure levels would have already occurred. While there have <br /> <br />been observable potentiometric head reductions within the last several years, <br /> <br />significant observ~ble reductions in total supply volume in the Denver Basin <br /> <br />aquifers have not occurred. Existing development is primarily concentrated in <br /> <br />and near the Denver metropolitan region. Extensive parts of the Basin <br /> <br />elsewhere are essentially undeveloped. One must conclude that at present <br /> <br />levels of development the resource will last longer than 100 years. <br />