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<br />Comments to SWSI, November 3,2003, by John Wiener
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<br />take place quite soon, perhaps to provide guidance to the legislature as well as possible, and
<br />inform the rule-making which the State Engineer may be called upon to provide.
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<br />Desired outcomes include: (1) A statement of which circumstances, if any, allow adequate
<br />estimations in a transparent fashion, to support short-term transfers of water from agriculture to
<br />municipalities. (2) A statement of research gaps and needs for the different categories of
<br />participants, including the possibilities for creation of a prototype expert system for making
<br />estimations, and a plan for local involvement and social acceptance. (3) A longer-term agenda
<br />for research and support in combining the expert system for return flow adjustments and water
<br />transfers with other systems such as those for irrigation scheduling and water valuation, for
<br />integrated regional water modeling and management.
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<br />The workshop assessing the state of knowledge should bring together key participants in water
<br />administration, research, and irrigation and conveyance technology providers.
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<br />What should we do? How can we best do it?
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<br />So far, inquiry with researchers and private sector people individually has shown strong concern
<br />for the problem, but also concern for the relationship such an effort would have to other long-term
<br />research agendas, inter-institutional contexts, and concern that a "top-down" approach might be
<br />seen as efforts to promote the interests of municipal transferees at the expense of agricultural
<br />transferors. One question is, "who should ask for this?" And then, how does this relate to the
<br />agenda and issues raised in the Statewide Water Supply Initiative in Colorado, and Interior's
<br />Water 2025 Initiative?
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<br />In 1996, the Colorado Water Resources Research Institute convened a panel which reported on
<br />lrriaation Water Conservation: Opportunities and Limitations in Colorado, A report of the
<br />Agricultural Water Conservation Task Force, by D. H. Smith, K. Klein, R. Bartholomay, I. Broner,
<br />G.E. Cardon, and W.M. Frasier, with contributions from D.F. Champion, R. Curtis, R. Kuharich,
<br />D.C. Lile, M. Gross, D. Parker, H. Simpson, and E. Wilkinson (CWRRI Completion Report No.
<br />190.) The results are clearly presented, and in short, they are that there is no avoiding sufficient
<br />place-specific information and engineering to support findings. When can we get that?
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<br />Further details and context for the problem
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<br />What's new? Why undertake a fast response?
<br />From the many news stories on the 2003 Colorado General Assembly's expected flood of
<br />water and drought-related bills, a quotation from a highly-respected legislator, Senator Jim Dyer,
<br />clearly reflects a sense of urgency. "We don't ca.re what the project is," Dyer said. "We just want
<br />to show leadership that we're responding to the drought." (Denver Post, 25 Dec. 02, p. 46).
<br />Senator Dyer represents a constituency hit very hard in 2002, expecting perhaps an even more
<br />financially damaging year in 2003. Many bills will address "conservation", interests in acquiring
<br />or defending agricultural water, and encouraging leasing to municipal uses. The pressure to
<br />move water away from irrigation has built dramatically in the last decades of enormous growth in
<br />urban populations (Nichols et al. 2001, Western Water Policy Review Commission, 1998), all over
<br />the West, and already Colorado has enacted a Water Bank Pilot Program on the Arkansas River.
<br />Now, in response to the severe 2002 drought, the sense of urgency may be stronger than ever.
<br />"It is frequently argued that a reallocation of just 10 percent of agricultural water to municipal uses
<br />could augment municipal supplies West-wide by 50 percent." (Nichols et al. 2001: xii-xiii). Over
<br />90 percent of consumptive use of Colorado water is in agriculture, in a normal year.
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<br />"Irrigation agriculture continues to be the focal point of discussion on sources of water
<br />to meet growing demands. Calls for conservation have come from several sources,
<br />apparently prompted by assumptions that the magnitude of agricultural water use is
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