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. 0 ,-;, ~---=----=--~---- xxxi lions of this, asseSSmem that these sQdaJly rGSponsible fUJlctii.)ns, be carried out. The. a'isessme,nt has ilot been able to demonstrate that this would be im- possible under H federal operati'ng authority ,or inherent under unonfedcl'al authority. A federal authority operating withinthe:existirlg legal! instltutiona.lj and public policy environment, woul~, hC)wt~Yer, ha~~e lllany alternatIves' for innovation foreclosed, and 'a confrontatioll of the national and local interests would be inevitable. In all likelihood, the national interest will prevail ~ut the objectives of ,sQCial equity and governmental even-bandedness will not have been s~rved. On the o.Uler hand, ii decision Ior.a nonfed.erm operating authority will il~clf n:quire btea:kiqg .new legal, institutiona:I, and public policy ground. To the (,:xtcnt that the nonfederal operating authority ensure... innovation while the federal operating authority is ,unable to overcome the inertia of existing policy, this assessment recommendS the choice of It nonfedcral operating au- thority. Three alterna~vcs for a nonfederal op(~rating authority were di,scusscd. . His recommend,cd that the states with target areas examine, these authorities to determine the option that appears to be in theit,.best intercst A federally char;- tered corporation is favored by this assessment for 30 operating. program en- compassingse:veral st;1t~. WaSA in the Upper Colorado River Basin is incremental in a,ll aspects except its social impact. The sociaJproblems that it is creating arc out of pro- portion to the physi~al impacts on which they arc based. This does not say that th~y can be ignQrcd because they are based on unrealistic perceptions: They arercal problems and the perceptions are rea] regardless of their subjective basis. In tenns of direct costs, WOSA is the least expensive way of producing augmented wat~r now available. Technicid.ly, it.k a reversible system; it can b~ turned on. and off at will and it requires only minimal distlirbance of ~le physical ,surroundings. In contrilst. the institptions t~at would'be cr.ctlted in (:xpectation of the water pro(luced -are nOl reversib]c~ They entail a commit- ment of reSources that. to some extent could not be transferred elsewhere. if the augmented water were not produced. The alllount of wat~r produced, whiIe.significam. will only brin.g the average virg.in fl<;iw qf the river from its reCent level to something like the l()l1g termval.ue civer- it.!!measUl."oo history. The water produced will probably not be .sufficicnt on the average to accommo<iiue the Mexican Water Treaty obligation if evaporation los.ses are considered. The improvement of water quality will he snlall. The be.nC!1tS to be reaHzed from the uses. to which the W3.terinight be:put are marginal, and the economic impact QIl the are-a of origin froni the increased snowpack is relatively small. At the. nationa.llcvel, the.cconomic:impacr. is insignificant The environmental impact is incremental, ,and exc.ept for the introdi.1~tion of silver iodide into the environment, no new effects arccre3ted.. Th.e effects now ex- perienced wiU b~ intensified, and the.re may be some compounding of effects. Because .of the great yearly variation in .snowpack, together wi'th the- kmg term-cyclic variations in' weather that seem to apply, it can safely be s~id that if the ,same effects resulting from \VaSA were to begin to appear n~turally, i i I ,---1 .- --____.