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policymakers should be aware of the direct and offsite impacts of individual transfer <br />proposals before reacting with legislation. For a transfer similar to that proposed by <br />Gallowav, substitution among crops and dryland conversion opportunities can minimize <br />the adverse secondary impacts. In Radosevich's words, states should not "cut off their <br />nose to spite their face" by categorically prohibiting such transfers (14). There is also <br />the obvious benefit of increased income accruing to the basin, although there is no <br />assurance that its recipients will remain there to spend it. The main cost of such a plan <br />is the long term sacrifice of an important resource such as water, whose ability to draw <br />an emotional response is hard to understate. Future research may discover that more <br />flexible transfer plans, such as a lease option by the urban user during dry years, may <br />furthur reduce these adverse impacts. <br />The offsite impacts of changes in river salinity and hydropower production appear <br />to overshadow the agricultural impacts, from an economic standpoint. Although <br />evaluated here in a rather "back of the envelop" fashion, these impacts are significant <br />and should be considered in evaluating transfers. <br />Whether Southern California interests, such as San Diego, will continue to attempt <br />to gain use of Upper Basin agricultural water depends on the economic and political <br />feasiblity of their other alternatives. However, it appears there are possibilities of net <br />gains to both parties involved in a transfer of 400,000 acre feet of agricultural water to <br />Lower Basin urban uses. <br />REFERENCES <br />(1) California General Assembly Bill 2746 (AB2746 <br />(2) Holme, H.K, "Obstacles to Interstate Transfers of Water: Many a Slip Twixt the <br />Cup and Lip." Pages 267-286 LJ. MacDonnell, ed. Perspggives on Colorado Water <br />Law. University of Colorado School of Law, 1986. <br />(3) Driver, B., "Western Water: Tuning the System." Report to the Western <br />Governors Association, Denver, Colorado, 1986. <br />(4) Twin Falls Times-News, "Limits on Water Sales in West May be Eased." Twin <br />Falls, Idaho, 1986. <br />(5) Landry, S., 'The Galloway Proposal and Colorado Water Law: The Limits of the <br />Doctrine of Prior Appropriation.' Natural Resources Journal. 25(4), 1986. <br />(6) Getches, D., Associate Professor, University of Colorado School of Law, Boulder, <br />and former Executive Director, Colorado Department of Natural Resources. Personal <br />communication, July, 1987. <br />(7) English, B.C., 'Assumptions in the CARD/RCA Crop Sector: A Review.' Center <br />for Agricultural and Rural Development, Series Paper 85-1, 1985. <br />(8) United States Department of Agriculture, "1982 National Resources Inventory." <br />Soil Conservation Service, 1984. <br />(9) Howitt, R.E. and P. Mean, "Positive Quadratic Programming Models." Working <br />paper, unnumbered. Department of Agricultural Economics, University of California, <br />Davis. 1985. <br />