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RIVER: State's water rights could be used up in some 50 years )lo- Continued from Page One as instream.f1ow rights," said Greg Walcher of Grand Junction, direc. tor of Club 20 an.d a work group member. "Why,are we doing this? It's leading to a goal T'm not sure we've all agreed tO,'1 he said. "These numbers are a place to start, something to work from," said Dan Noble of Norwood, anotber work group member. "But when you start talking about people's water, you better he pre. pared for a real grilling." "These will be junior water rights," said Kubn, who supports the idea. "They'll have very little impact overall down .the road. We're just boping they will help us maintain 'something similar to a naturalhydrograph," or pattern of river fJoY(s."' . Another sticky. question yet to be resolved is how to divide the filings. aiming :different river basins within .thestate, where instream flows-sometimes drop too low for the fish because of diver. sions tor'cities and farms. "That's a tough decision for the work group to make, because it's forecasting 'growth," said Jim Hokit of Montrose, manager of the UncompahgreValley Water Users Association. . "We're .still at a " Transmountain Western futLlr8 projects Slope future 4DJ projects /D 1-/. T ransm full potentl existing proj 3% Western Slope . potential eXIsting ... prOjects 4% Colorado River Compac Has Colorado reached its fill? Evaporative IOSS8S charged against Colorado -......- ..--,,-' crossroads on how to approach that final part of the decision." "We want to leave a range of water to satisfy lhese projects, plus a bit more. If one project doesn't happen, that water could certainly be used in anolher basin until Colorado reaches its enlitle- ment. But as more projects devel- op, those opportunities become limited," said Randy Seaholm. water resources specialist for the Nev. (i!] \ ~ Colorado ~ River Calif. m Transmountain diversion present use ~';: state water board. Of course, critics are asking why all this effort is under way on behalf of the Colorado squawfish and razorback slIcker. which are not warm and fuzzy endangered species that prompt people's pro- tective instincts. "How important is this fish pop. ulation'" asked Noble. "Is it some- thing we need to worry about at this point? We can grow tbose fish Wyo. m Utah DO L""" Ferry Dividing porn: between upper and lower basins Juan:> . River N;M., 1m'.. Mexico Robert Garcia/Daily Sentinel anywhere we want to and then plant them." Others just want to be sure the numbers are justified. "It's really hard to come to a final recommendation without knowing the biological needs of the lish we're being asked to pro- tect," said Hokit. "We are asking for additional information from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to substantiate these flows."