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reservoirs associated with these diversions are included in export figures. <br />Exports during 1975 accounted for about 19 percent of total water loss <br />(Table 1.2). <br />Perhaps the oldest diversions in the upper Colorado River basin are <br />those associated with the Strawberry Project in northeastern Utah (La Rue <br />1916). Water was first diverted from the Strawberry River to Hobble Creek <br />in 1893. This diversion is still in operation. <br />Variation in the volume of water exported is large; however, the net <br />increase has been dramatic since 1953 (Figure 1.3). Water exported from <br />the upper basin remained under 150,000 acre-feet until 1938. By 1957, <br />42 transmountain diversions were exporting about 468,400 acre-feet. Water <br />exports in 1971 totaled 583,000 acre-feet and then rose to 711,000 acre- <br />feet in 1975. Except for the period between 1914 and 1935, exports from <br />the Upper Main Stem have greatly exceeded those of the other subregions <br />(Figure 1.3). In 1975, transmountain exports accounted for 33 percent of <br />the water consumed in the Upper Main Stem Subregion, and only 10 percent <br />and eight percent of the water used in the Green River and San Juan-Colo- <br />rado Subregions, respectively (Table 1.2). <br />Water diverted from the upper Colorado River basin is used in the <br />Great Basin, Arkansas River basin, Platte River basin, and Rio Grande <br />basin. One small diversion in southern Utah imports about 2,600 acre- <br />feet of water annually from the East Fork of the Sevier River into the <br />upper Colorado River basin. <br />Reservoir Evaporation <br />The volume of water lost from the upper basin as a result of evapo- <br />ration from large surface reservoirs has been computed only for the large <br />main stem impoundments. The majority of these reservoirs were formed as <br />a result of the Colorado River Storage Project, authorized by Congress on <br />April 11, 1956. This included construction of six large dams (Table 1.3), <br />most of which were impounding water by 1964 (U.S. Department of Interior <br />1977). A storage capacity of 33,439,000 acre-feet was developed by 1965, <br />including Lake Powell on the Colorado River, Flaming Gorge and Fontenelle <br />Reservoirs on the Green River, Navajo Reservoir on the San Juan River, <br />14