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<br />o <br />L,", <br />0') <br />,oJ <br /> <br />Water right decrees on West Divide Cresk were originally <br /> <br />granted at the nominal rate of 50 qcres per second-foot, but <br /> <br />irrigators complain that this duty is too high and have in recent <br /> <br />adjudications made efforts to lower the duty to 40 acres to the <br /> <br />second-foot. The matter is not yet decided. Actual records of <br /> <br />diversion during the flood show th~t 200 second-feet have been used <br /> <br />not only through the month of May but even during the latter part <br /> <br />of April when that much wnter w~s available. This is at a rate of <br /> <br />roughly 40 8.cres to the second-foot for the project irrigated <br /> <br />area of 8161 acres. <br /> <br />Three years of early runoff record of West Divide Creek <br /> <br />are available; in one of these the flood peak came late in April, in <br /> <br />the other years it came in May. Irrigation therefore starts as <br /> <br />soon aS,or even before growing weather arrives, to make use of the <br /> <br />flood water while it flows. All the wnter possible is applied to <br /> <br />fill the ground and mature the first cutting of alfalfa. The <br /> <br />practically simultaneous use of a maximum quantity of water at all <br /> <br />elevations resnl ts in a more uniform ripening of the alfalfa than <br /> <br />is justified by the 1.500 feet difference in elevation which the <br /> <br />project covers. This in turn causes a strongly peaked demand <br /> <br />immediately after the first cutting of alfalfa is harvested, about <br /> <br />July 1. There is seldom sufficient water properly to irrigate the <br /> <br />second cutting. <br /> <br />Water commissioners, whose duty it is to administer water <br /> <br />according te the priority of the appropriations, do not keep complete <br /> <br />27 <br />