WSP13055

• File Number: 8040.200
• Description: Energy
• State: CO
• Date: 2/1/1982
• Author: Musick and Cope
• Title: Briefing Paper on Critical Water Supply Variables for Energy Development in the Upper Colorado River Basin
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

2. Colorado Department of Natural Resources (DNR)

It is estimated that the water demands of a
[synfuels] industry of about 1.5 million
bbl/day, as well as the water demands of the
associated growth, could be satisfied from
surface supplies without having to signifi-
cantly reduce (if at all) other projected con-
sumptive uses in the Upper Basin. This ---
conclusion is premised on four major quali-
fiers.

First, surface water supplies can be made
available for the development of [synfuels]
only if:

1. water not presently under contract
is purchased from existing u.s. Bureau of
Reclamation reservoirs; and/or

2. new reservior, pipeline, and pumping
facilities are constructed in order to
capture, store, and transport the water.

* * *

Second, it must be recognized that the above
conclusion only takes into account the projec-
tions of consumptive uses. The increased
depletions and hydrologic regulation attribu-
table to [synfuels development] could reduce
the supply of instream recreational oppor-
tunities and the habitat available for various
fish species from what they might otherwise
be.

* * *

Third, this conclusion takes into account only
those institutional factors that are embodied
in each State's water rights system and in the
'Law of the River' (i.e., an international
treaty, interstate compacts, u.S. Supreme
Court decrees, and acts of Congress governing
the oper~tion of Colorado River reservoirs).
While not part of the traditional body of laws
governing the use and allocation of water in
and among the Upper Basin states, numerous
other institutional factors, primarily Federal
environmental regulatory laws and programs,
may affect the timing, manner, and location of
water resource developments in the Upper
Basin.

-5-

-
.~{:'..