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";~~J~:. " . . I up the wild and wooly West. The W.est is now populated and economically sound. Irrigators whp receive water for their farms should pay in full for that water. There has been no attempt by the Department of Interior that we know of to br ing the Narrows Unit into conformity wi th the law and the opinion of the Attorney General so as to inform the Congress of the current 1981 feasibility of the project. A further deviation from the above feasibility prin- ciple is that there has been no evaluation of pt'esetlt needs for irrigation water or how best to meet them. The Basin Assessment, when completed by the Colorado Water Conservation Board, may be helpful to the Department of Interior in meeting its obligation to update the need as well as the cost of the Narrows Unit. ' Since the 1957 date of appropriation for the Narrows Reservoir, there have been substantial changes in practical conditions which need to be evalua,ted as a matter of policy. In order for the Narrows to attempt to fill, it will be necessary for the United States to use all the winter wate~.' available to a 1957 decree which occurs in the Platte River at and above Narrows. Because of the increasing availability of electric energy and the cheapness of its use for pumping, many ditches which are ordinarily ,deficient in water supply during a part of the 'summer irrigation season have been taking advantage of times when there is no call to meet priorities and operating their di~ches in the winter. The permeability of the alluvium under these ditches is such that winter diversions are used to fill the alluvium where the return flow to the main stern of the Platte River is slow enough that the water remains available for use later in the summer season where pumps have been installed. In this manner, since 1957, it is curirently estimated that 100,000 acre feet annually is being pumped for the benefit of irrigated land without 'any cos~ whatever to the American taxpayers. The position of the Bureau of Reclamation has been and probably will be the position of Water and Power Resources'Service that it must exercise its Narrows priority so that there will be no free river on the basis of which the ditche& can run water in the winter for ground water storage junior to 1957. Thus the 'United States will build a reservoir to supply the same wa~er or a small part of it, which is now being supplied f~ee'of cost to the American taxpayer. There is a current tentative arrangement, not supported by any final court decree, whereby the Narrows Unit would waive its 1957 priority with respect to wells installed prior to 1969. It cannot be, readily calculated how much of, the 100,000 acre feet of potential will be relieved by this tentative understanding. Regardless of -10-