WSP09853 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

UJ3121 agencies to reserve water for future purposes. Colorado law recognizes "conditional" water rights which an applicant may obtain now for in- tended future use. 56 To maintain such rights, "due diligence" toward applying that water to a beneficial use must be demonstrated to the water court every four years by exhibiting studies, investments, or other concrete actions. There has been a shift toward stricter interpre- tation of due diligence in recent years. In the Colorado River Basin, most conditional rights have been established by prospective export- ers, especially cities. Perhaps a more common way of reserving water for future use is to acquire existing water rights and leave that water in its current use until needed for new activities. 57 Though forecasted future activities and their net benefits are un- certain, these foregone net benefits associated with the future loss of water should be considered in assessing an out-of-basin transfer. The analysis of instream uses [(2) above] is much the same, in that there may be direct curtailment of current instream values and further losses of future instream values. There is likely to be immedi- ate loss of some instream values; on smaller streams, for example, transfers may make it more difficult for towns and industries to meet ambient water quality standards, forcing them to undertake higher levels of waste treatment. Regarding (3), there are likely to be at least temporary losses of income in activities linked to the major water-using or water-based sectors. If a direct water-using activity such as irrigated agriculture is curtailed, certain "backward linked" industries like farm equipment and chemical suppliers and certain "forward linked" industries like livestock, food processing, and meat packing will find the demand for their services reduced, with consequent reductions in their net in- comes. Some of the human and other resources consequently left un- employed will find new employment, but for those left unemployed over various time intervals, the income losses are attributable to the transfer. These income losses can be estimated subject to substantial uncertainty. '8 Finally, some indirect losses [(4) above] may occur to "society at large" in the basin of origin through under-utilization of public facili- ties, decline in the tax base, reduction in quality of public services, and ~ i I 56. For a recent discussion, see Hallford, Dcvelopmcnts in Conditional Water Rights Law. 14 COLO. LAW. 353 (1985). 57. For a discussion of the inefficiencies of this system see Williams. The RequircmclJl of Benefi- cia/ Use as a Cause of WaSle in Water Resource Development, 23 NAT. RESOURCES J. 7 (198.:\). 58. For a method of calculating such income losses, see C. HOWE & K. EASTER, supra note 53, ch.4.