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<br />Successive use figures for ~he Sou~b Platte River basin can be estimated <br /> <br />using Table 1. This table shc;>ws the sources of the basin water supply, gross <br /> <br />quantities used by municipal and industrial'users, urban users, and the quan- <br /> <br />tities consumptively removed from the systein by these Users. While the <br />consumptive basin supply is only 1.8 million acre-feet (2.2 x 109 x m3), <br />4.3 million acre-feet (5.3 x 109 x m3) of w!lter are put to use which would <br /> <br />indicate a gross successive use rate of roughly 2.4 million. The agricultural <br />consumptive use is 1.3 million acre_feet (10.6 x 109 x m3) while applied waters <br />amount to 3.5 million acre-feet (4.3 x 109 x m3) which is a successive use <br /> <br />rate of 2.7. <br /> <br />CONTENDING INTERESTS <br /> <br />The uses to which the waters of the South Platte River basin are put is <br /> <br />a controversial issue. Generally, .water uses are divided into the traditional <br /> <br />domestic, agricultural, and industrial categories. A fourth category can be <br /> <br />added for mineral resource rich western states - water for energy. Water <br /> <br />needed for energy prOduction is becOll1ing mOte and more important. For each <br /> <br />of these uses, there is a separate legal, institutional, and political <br /> <br />framework. <br /> <br />The situation in the South Platte River basin has produced an interesting <br />triangle of interests contending for water as shown in Fig. 4. Each corner <br /> <br />of the triangle can be viewed as a unit contending for water with one of the <br /> <br />other corners or units. Each unit is a cross section of the various use <br /> <br />interests. The three units have been classified as western slope interests, <br />east slope urban interests, and east slope agricultural interests. <br /> <br />The western slope unit is composed of a wide cross sectio~ of interests <br /> <br />that represent a variety of water uses. Energy, environmental,' business, and <br /> <br />agricultural interests have formed an allegiance in order to cope with the <br /> <br />16 <br /> <br />1-- <br />