OCR Text |
Show 680 INTERSTATE ADJUDICATIONS for 1913 was somewhat more than 50 per cent, of the average, and that the average at Woods and in that vicinity, counting all years, was approximately 200,000 acre-feet. Wyoming's chief witness, the hydrographer, submitted the following table giving the, results of his gaging and measurements at the Pioneer Dam. DISCHARGE OF LARAMIE RIVER AT PIONEER DAM, NEAR WOODS, WY0. (INCLUDING DIVERSION JUST ABOVE DAM BY PIONEER CANAL) [In acre-feet] 1912 1913 1914 January........................................................................ 2,650 3,283 February .......................................................-............ 2,355 3,088 March..........................................................-.............. 3,296 4,003 April ................................................. 5,534 12,674 8,807 May .................................... 40,643 38,307 .............. June........................-.......................... 91-874 26,598 .............. July ................................................... 34,863 6,825.............. August........................................................... 7,809 3,130.............. September....................................................... 4,641 3,023.............. October.......................................................... 6,456 3,812.............. November........................................................ 4,403 3,677.............. December........................................................ 2,644________3,246-------......... Total...................................................... 198,867 109,593 19,181 The evidence does not permit us to doubt the accuracy of these data. They were obtained by work which is shown to have been painstak- ingly and conscientiously done by one fully competent to do it. The place at wihich it was done was well adapted to obtaining accurate results and the observations were continuous, not merely occasional or intermittent. As the gaging did not cover the first three months of 1912, it is necessary to arrive at the flow for those months. The proof shows that the flow for the same months in 1914 fairly may be taken for the purpose. That was 10,374 acre-feet, the addition making 209,241 acre- feet for 1912. The flow for 1913 was 109,593 acre-feet. Both should be increased 4,000 acre-feet to cover water diverted between Woods and the Pioneer Dam and not returning to the stream above the gaging station. This gives a total of 213,241 acre-feet for 1912 and 113,593 acre-feet for 1913. Tested by the flow of these years, the available supply would be 163,417 acre-feet; that is to say, on that basis the excess in 1912 would match the deficiency in 1913. But a survey of more than two years is essential in arriving at a fair conclusion respecting the available supply. A year of low flow is not always pre- ceded by one of high or moderate flow as was the case with 1912 and 1913. In diverting and applying water in irrigation there is a material loss through evaporation, seepage and otherwise which is unavoidable. The amount varies according to the conditions-chiefly according to the distance the water is carried through canals and ditches and the length of time it is held in storage. Where the places of use are in the same watershed and relatively near the stream, as is true of the lands on the Laramie Plains served by the greater part of the Wyoming appropriations, a substantial amount of water percolates back into the stream from irrigated areas and becomes available for further use lower down the stream. This is called return water. The amount |