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<br />(' n' 31.'" <br />J lJ rJ t, <br /> <br />annually from these reservoirs without jeopardizing other water uses (NGPRP <br />Water Work Group, 1975).17 <br /> <br />Tributary Reservoirs--Water for future developments could be made <br />available from some of the existing reservoirs within the region whose full <br />capacities are still unused. For example. Boysen and Bighorn Lake Reser- <br />voirs, which are Bureau of Reclamation projects. could provide a total of <br />an additional 319.000 acre feet annually while maintaining suggested in- <br />18 <br />stream flows (NGPRP Water Work Group. 1975). In fact. the Bureau has al- <br />ready optioned water from these two reservoirs to energy companies, a move <br />which has been challenged in a suit brought by the Environmental Defense <br />Fund. This action illustrates the existence of opposition to using tribu- <br />tary reservoir storage for the support of energy development. <br /> <br />Additional Water Storaqe <br /> <br />Many potential water storage sites remain undeveloped in the <br />Upper Missouri Basin, uncluding at least 57 in the Yellowstone subbasin <br />alone (NGPRP Water Work Group. 1975).19 Provision of new storage permits <br />increased water usage during low flow periods, and thus makes additional <br />water available for new uses. For example, in the Yellowstone subbasin, <br />new storage construction could make available more than 3 million acre feet <br />of additional water annually, or about 2 million acre feet if suggested <br />minimum flows were to be maintained. By comparison, without new construc- <br />tion only about a million acre feet is available for new uses (NGPRP Water <br />Work Group, 1975).20 New storage is a lesser possibility elsewhere in the <br />region, and in the South Platte River system, where all water supplies, <br />both natural and imported, have been appropriated for beneficial uses, <br />additional storage cannot provide water for new development (Missouri Basin <br />Inter-Agency Commission, 1971),21 althou9h it can serve other functions. <br /> <br />24 <br /> <br />,:::,,;,~,,:' ','" :": .'../:! '/:'?/:~;:~ <br />. .". .. '., ",:: ";:;:.;:.:. <br />." ~..' ".:. "... .'::'.~. :.; , <br /> <br />..:-1 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />'., <br />0" ". ." <br />...-. <br />. '~'". '-.: .:'.,.,.,.. -'~': .,... <br />-.:.~:~/. {.~ .:....:.<::;.:;..~-::::;: t.~~~)f::~ <br />.. -..... '.. - . '. <br />.. ....." :,,:-::, <br />........... <br />