without decreed rights, would be permitted to take water for direct irrigation before the proposed reservoir would be entitled to any water whatsoever, provided they had made use of water first. The reports of the water commissioners of these two districts show that at no time during the irrigation seasons of the years 1901 and 1902 was there enough water to satisfy the demands for direct irrigation, and an examination of the reports for the preceding ten years shows that the same condition prevailed then with but few exceptions. The records kept at Kersey and Orchard, given on pages 167–168, show that there was but one year, 1900, in the last seven when any considerable amount of water would have been available during the irrigation season. These reports, and the additional fact that direct irrigation is still being extended, and this extension will be continued until its maximum limit is reached, demonstrate that the supply of water available for the filling of the proposed reservoir is, at any rate, practically limited to the winter flow. WATER SUPPLY DURING WINTER PERIOD. Again examining the tables of discharge on page 167 we find that the entire discharge of South Platte River at the Kersey station between November 1, 1901, and March 31, 1902, was 215,983 acre-feet, the maximum monthly discharge being 903 second-feet for December and the minimum 486 for March, with a mean of 723; and that for the winter period between November 1, 1902, and March 31, 1903, the total discharge was 173,820 acre-feet, with a maximum monthly flow of 920 second-feet for March, a minimum of 334 for November, and a mean of 579. Discharge of South Platte River at Kersey during winter periods. There are at the present time, however, five reservoirs either wholly or partly constructed or under consideration which would have rights prior to those of the proposed system whose points of diversion are in the vicinity of the proposed head-gate of the project under consideration. These are the Riverside, formerly called Sanborn Draw reservoir (under construction), with an estimated capacity when completed of 70,260 acre-feet; the Jackson Lake, present capacity 41,320, but capable of enlargement to 67,790 acre-feet; Bijou reservoir No. 1, available capacity 16,070 acre-feet; and Bijou reservoir No. 2, not yet built but sure to be constructed if there is sufficient water for it, capacity 8,035 acre-feet. To these should be added the New Empire reservoir, capacity claimed 27,259 acre-feet, which has been surveyed and which will probably be constructed in the near future. All these reservoirs will, if constructed first, be entitled to water ahead of the project under consideration, not only during the period of winter flow but at such times as there should be any summer flow available. The possible capacities of these five reservoirs are as follows: Reservoir. Riverside.... Capacities of reservoirs proposed or in course of construction. Capacity in acre-feet. 70, 260 To furnish this amount would require a stream carrying 1,074 second-feet constantly for 90 days, or 805 second-feet for 120 days, or 644 second-feet for 150 days, leaving for the proposed Pawnee Pass reservoir, on the 150-day basis, about 79 second-feet during the first winter period and nothing whatever during the second, assuming the flow to be regular and to be depended upon and controlled throughout the whole of each winter season. This estimate, moreover, makes no allowance for loss by evaporation and seepage in the canals conducting water to the reservoirs named, nor does it take into account the fact that they might, if they had the necessary amount of water, be filled more than once in a year. Even on the basis of the first three of these reservoirs, which either already have been or are being constructed, more than two-thirds of these amounts would be required. for the corresponding lengths of time, not allowing for any losses. Further than this, however, is the fact that reservoirs with an aggregate capacity of upward of 300,000 acre-feet either have been constructed within the last two or three years or are now under actual construction at higher points on the South Platte and its tributaries and have not in the past had water, but must be taken into consideration hereafter. There are, moreover, filings upon other sites that aggregate over 300,000 acre-feet which need not be considered in this connection, for obvious reasons, but which would be important if there were any water for them. |