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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />- 9 - <br /> <br />l''' <br />N Lake Creek .for use as needed on lands under the Colorado Canal, which diverts <br />CD <br />c.D from the Arkansas River about 20 miles below Pueblo. From 1935 to date this pro- <br /> <br />jeat has made average transmountain diversions of 37,000 acre feet annually, and <br /> <br /> <br />the total imports into the Arkansas basin have averaged about 42,000 acre feet. <br /> <br />It is significant that the direct flow right of the Colorado Canal for 756 cubic <br /> <br />feet per second, with a priority date of June, 1890, more than 60 years old, did <br /> <br />not, throughout the years, yield an adequate supply for the irrigation of the <br />45,000 acres under the system. <br /> <br />Rec6ntly a report on a proposed project of the Bureau of Reclamation to <br /> <br />divert water from the Fryingpan into the Lake Fork of the Arkansas was submitted <br /> <br />by the Secretary of the Interior to the affected States for their comments. <br /> <br />This project would import annually into the basin an average of 70,000 acre feet <br /> <br />of water which has been considered to be surplus over and above the needs VQthin <br /> <br />the natural basin of the Colorado River. <br /> <br />Studies are currently being carried on with reg"rd to present and po- <br /> <br />tential uses of water in the maj or tributary areas of the Colorado River basin <br /> <br />in Colorado, which under State policy must be fully protected, for the purpose <br /> <br />of determining whether, after consideration of such in-basin uses, there will be <br /> <br />a remaining surplus which may be diverted from the Colorado River for further <br /> <br />development of the Eastern Slope in Colorado. It is physically possible to im- <br /> <br />port a considerable amount of water into the Arkansas basin from the Gunnison <br /> <br />River watershed. The eventuality or magnitude of such a diversion depends, of <br /> <br />course, upon the results of the studies mer.tioned, and the economic factors rel- <br /> <br />ative to the planning of such projects. <br />Of the 500,000 acres presently irrigated in Colorado in the Arkansas <br /> <br />River basin, approximately 340,000 acres, or 68 per cent, are supplied by direct <br /> <br />flow from the main river, with supplemental supplies of reservoir or imported <br />