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. . 00259? . REGUIA'lED USE OF GROUND WATER - AN UNSoLVED POOBIEM By Felix L. Sparks, Director, Colorado Water Conservation Board Missouri Basin Inter~Agency Committee Meeting Continental-Denver Motor Hotel, Denver, Colorado December 10, 1958 '-~, *' really knows tihen man :first discovered that by digging ~ hole in ;';" , .'_"~ t~", ground he dould sometimes discover water. It is virtually certain that prehistoric ''''~ ~n, in his earl~t form, learned that water could often be had by diggi,m: .~. shallow hole in the gravel of an apparently dry stream bed. Lest we take too much pride in manls ingenuity, however.. it should be remembered that animals also follow this prac- tice even today, and probably did so before man ever existed. vJe are told by our learned scientists that from water, life emer~r\ This seems logical since we each know of our own knowledge today that Without wate~; lite on this planet does not long exist. The human race has the recognized ability of reproducing itself, and this habit has long been a source of great trouble. For the purpose of: this discussion, however, I shall merely observe that by the nature of things the choicest waterholes and river valleys became overpopulated thousands of years ago. This situation led to the very early establishment of a sort of water law, enforced by individuals armed with large clubs or stone axes. No shovels eXisted then. In arry event, we can imagine that those individuals who were 1.~ least pro- . ~..' ficient in the l.lse of a club or stone axe were driven to more barren land's. These early day refugees uere probably comforted by the fact that spri~s were to be found ',r in their new frontier. No doubt a distinct impression was conveyed that water -f10wede under the ground as well as across the surface.