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<br />Fort Collins has transferred their interest in the proJect to South Platte <br />power supply interests and will relr on another source at the ~pper end of the <br />South Platte Cache La Poudre River. <br />The third corner of the contending interests' triangle is the east slope <br />agricUltural interests. Agricultural water rights are being bought by urban <br />water suppliers to meet both present and future demands. Agricultural inter- <br />ests as a group are opposing this change of use. The transfer of agricultural <br />waters to urban uses not only erodes the:agricultural water supply base, but <br />also removes agricultural land from production through urban sprawl. <br />Adding to the complexity of the problem is the fact that dOll1estic or urban <br />water use is a preferred use over agricultural use in the Colorado constitution. <br />This allows urban interests to condemn agricultural water rights for urban use <br />if the need can be proven. The Colorado oState Legislature recently stiffened <br />condemnation procedural requirements. Tlie legislature cannot change the <br />order of preferred uses because it is part of the State constitution. <br />The contending interests I triangle is 'not a permanent or hard image of the <br />South Platte River basin's water supply interest units. The triangle is <br />delicate. There is a possibility of shifts by individual interests .to differ- <br />ent corners of the triangle. It does, however, illustrate the competition <br />between various groups for water. There is no surplus water. <br />BASIN WATER MANAGEMENT ECONOMICS <br />Under the conditions prevailing in the South Platte River basin, efficiency <br />of water use becOll1es P&reaOlUlt. The ternl efficiency was defined earlier in <br />this paper as m0aning the productivity per unit of water consumptively used <br />for a partiCUlar activity. Water use efficiency can be applied to each <br />individual use. Agricult14l'al water use efficiency generally refers to the <br />bushels or tons of end product produced per acre-foot of water applied. For <br />20 <br />