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Comments to SWSI. November 3, 2003t by John Wiener 7 Slope out of the piedmont areas and mesa highlands) was treeless until water distributjon created important microenvironments that are the basis of both urban amenity and rural biodiversity.. The drive for increased efficiency of use wouJd be iU..informed without consideration of these benefits. and there may be important choices in maintenance of facilities and public interest or benefits in some of the spill.overs such as conveyance 'oss that creates habitat.. The bioJogical importance of corridors and connections between places magnifies the importance of these artificial creeks in semi...arid areast With the prospect of additional changes in flows in mainstem rivers and rarge streams fed by snowmeJt, due to climate variation or human modification for additionar storaget these values may become even higher. One interesting case is Briggsdale Campground in the Pawnee Buttes Nationaf Grasslands, where an old farmsteadJ long since gone} has become internationafly known as a stop for migrating birds, and thus birdwatchersJ between the Arkansas and the South Pratte. There are numerous gravel pit ponds now supporting wHdlife, and the subject of trails and linear amenities has been noted above. The threat of inadequately considered increases in Hefficiency" of conveyance, and perhaps arso of field application or irrigation is that these environmenta' benefits may be 'ost. and this in turn makes the probability of loss of buffers and safety margins a bigger threat. Under the current conditions of radjcal popufation increase] the threats to Ilincrease efficiencyu are already strongt and as ;s widely appreciated, the public interests in Uineffjciencyu are not represented where the water raw protects onJy other water rights holders.. Everyone in a watershed can be affected by drastic additionaf rayers of regulation if environmental conditions deteriorate too far, but the defense against this created by Itinefficiency" is apparentfy up to processes like the SWSI. Environmentarly-oriented description of the choices and trade..offs now available, UWhat the Current Drought Means for the Future of Water Management in Colorado.. (Luecke et at, 2003, 66 pp, avaUable on-Une from Trout UnUmited. <www.cotrout.org>) has disappointingry little to say about the local and the rural interests that this commentary addresses. The existing expectations and values built around the amenity and environmental vafues of Jlleakyu ord dUches are sadly under.appreciated in the conversation so far, in both urban and rural contexts. These values may be much higher in the future under conditions of lower water availabifity for any reason. A recommendation for inquiry is noted below as an appendix on agricultural efficiency. Arthough unpJeasant to contemprate~ the trends in weUands loss and degradation of the riparian habitats mean that droughts or water supply shortages for any reason may create much higher vaJues for the-remaining areas of these kinds. The public benefits are noted below in a little more detail, but in regard to the environmental benefits, it is important to consider that current varues may be only a fraction of future values. These include providing the range of environmental amenities and services, noted above and below. and also providing important environmental buffers. These buffers are safety nets for some wildlife and high-va'ued uses, such as waterfowl habitat and recreational hunt;ng] and aJso buffers against the problems of crossjng environmentaJ thresholds such as water quality TMDLs or threatened and endangered species problemst which can destabilize a wide range of investments and opportunities, causing at the least a serious aHocation of staff and management expenses in the public sector whire complicating activities in the privata sector. The loss of prairie potholes, for example, has affected waterfowl already, perhaps making water distributfon facilities even more valuable (see Baron, J~, Ed., 2002, Rocky Mountain Futures~ Island Press for review of some of these issues). The problem of rural sustainabilily and agricultural viability "Farming no longer anchors the rural economy.. i II wrote Whitener and McGranahan in the USDA ERS Amber Waves magazine (Feb. 2003, on-line from USDA ERS); they noted that job growth in farm-re~ated industry and business is greater than in farming itself, and nearly 90 percent of all farm household income in 1999 was from off..farm sources. More than half of farm operators work off the farmt and of those 4/5 are employed furl-time off the farm. The importance of rural