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Show 732 INTERSTATE ADJUDICATIONS The 131,800 acres of irrigated land consume 98,572 acre feet annually, including reservoir evaporation. Exportations from the basin are expected to average 6,000 acre feet, making the total annual depletion 104,540 acre feet. Though Colorado claimed that an additional 100,000 acres in North Park was susceptible of irrigation, the Special Master found that there are only about 34,000 acres of additional land that could be brought under irrigation; 30,390 of those acres are irrigable from constructed ditch systems having water rights. Those projects, however, are not completed; they 'are indeed projects for the indefinite future. In addition to these projects in North Park, Colorado also has proposed that large quantities of water from the river be exported from the basin into other rivers. There have been out-of-priority diversions in Colorado and Wyo- ming above Pathfinder in relation to the priorities and needs of Ne- braska users. Their full extent is not known. But as respects Pathfinder, the Special Master estimated that Colorado appropriators junior to Pathfinder consume about 30,000 acre feet a year. Since Pathfinder after 1930 has never been filled and has always been in need of water for storage, those Colorado junior diversions may be said to have violated the Pathfinder priority. The claims of Colorado to addi- tional demands were construed by the Special Master as a threat of further depletion of the river within North Park. He found that there was no surplus in the supply and that any material increase in diver- sions in Colorado would be in violation of established priorities, nota- bly Pathfinder. Colorado Line to Pathfinder Reservoir. In the region between the Colorado-Wyoming line and Pathfinder appropriation rights cover about 272,000 acres, 149,400 of which are irrigated. But of those only 9,400 acres are irrigated from the main stream, the balance being irri- gated from tributaries. The consumptive use rate is about 1 acre foot per acre. Over two-thirds of the volume of diversions (main stream and tributaries) and 88 per cent from the main stream are senior to the North Platte Project. They are in the main junior to the State Line Canals in Nebraska. Those projects junior to Pathfinder have been operated since 1930 in violation of its priority. The Special Master found that there is no present prospect of any large expansion of irri- gation in this area, though five additional projects have been contem- plated, some of them being partially constructed. The accretions to the river from tributaries in this section are very large-about 790,240 acre feet net. Land consumption is 16 per cent of the net accretions, while that of rights junior to Pathfinder is about 5.6 per cent of the net. North Platte Project. The priority of Pathfinder is December 6, 1904 and of Guernsey April 20,1923. Between Pathfinder and the Ne- braska state line there are 32 canals on the main river which have priorities senior to Pathfinder. The State Line Canals in Nebraska also are senior to Pathfinder. And Guernsey is junior to all canals below it down to; the Nebraska line. The percentage of .rights in each section senior and junior to the North Platte Project are as follows: Percentage Percentage Senior Junior North Park______________________________________ 67 33 Colorado State Line to Pathfinder Reservoir____________ 88 12 Pathfinder Reservoir to Whalen______________________ 52 48 Whalen to Nebraska State Line (Wyoming private canals) __ 91 9 Nebraska State Line Canals_________________________100 0 |