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<br />W <br />"-l <br />~ <br />1.&;:1. <br /> <br />B. Economic Impacts <br /> <br />A consortium of water research resources centers in the States of Arizona, <br />California, Colorado, and Utah partially funded and cooperated in a study <br />also funded by the OWRT (Office of Water Research and Technology) and <br />Reclamation to assess the economic damages caused by various salt concen- <br />trations to agricultural and municipal water users [3]. Based upon the <br />findings of that study, Reclamation has published a summary working docu- <br />ment [4]. It is estimated that the annual damages projected to occur to <br />the Lower Basin water users are $472,000 (January 1981 dollars) for each <br />rise of 1 mg/L in salinity concentration at Imperial Dam. Annual damages <br />are estimated at $96 million now and $237 million by the turn of the <br />century without salinity control. These annual damages per mg/L are <br />projected to occur when salinity concentrations reach between 875 and <br />1,140 mg/L by the year 2000 without controls. <br /> <br />C. Water for Energy Development <br /> <br />Water is essential to all energy development operation including mining, <br />land reclamation, onsite processing, transportation, powerplant cooling, <br />refining, and fuel conversion processes. Numerous studies and reports have <br />attempted to project water requirements for energy development anticipated <br />for the Colorado River Basin. A list of current water for energy studies <br />is presented in table 5. The general consensus of these studies is that <br />freshwater is physically available to support significant energy develop- <br />ment. However, actual site-specific water development scenarios are <br />subject to a number of environmental and regulatory constraints: air and <br />water quality, Indian water rights, legal problems, instream flow, and fish <br />and wildlife issues. <br /> <br />Table 5. - Needs reported for water in energy studies <br /> <br />Water for Energy in the Upper Colorado River Basin <br />U.S. DOI 1974 874,000 acre-ft/yr by 2000 <br /> <br />Section 13A Assessment - <br />Basin (Coal Conversion <br />DOE/WRC 1979 <br /> <br />Upper Colorado River <br />and Oil Shale) <br />431,000 acre-ft/ yr <br /> <br />by 2000 <br /> <br />Energy from the West <br />EPA 1979 1,200,000 acre-ft/yr by 2000 <br /> <br />Water Supply Should not be an Obstacle to Meeting <br />Energy Development Goals <br />GAD 1980 489,000 acre-ft/ yr by 2000 <br /> <br />IV-6 <br />