Some northern Colorado farmers who had their groundwater pumps shut off last summer will try to convince a state panel this week that they're not drawing down the South Platte River. The farmers, who operate about 400 wells in Weld, Adams, Arapahoe and Elbert counties, claim that their pumping doesn't harm the river because they are tapping an underground aquifer that has very little connection to the surface water. They are asking the Colorado Ground Water Commission to designate about 300,000 acres as a groundwater basin, which would lift the state requirement that they come up with plans to replace the river water they take.

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