7750

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7750
• Author: U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
• Title: Study of Alternative Water Supplies for Endangered Fishes in the "15-Mile Reach" of the Colorado River.
• USFW Year: 1992.
• USFW - Doc Type: \
• Copyright Material: NO

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CHAPTER IV UTILIZATION OF AGRICULTURAL WATER RIGHTS
Orchard Mesa Check, theoretically, the Orchard Mesa Power and Pumping Plant would be
discharging about 582 cfs to the 15-Mile Reach when the flow at the Cameo gage is 2,260
cfs. To have 700 cfs in the Reach, there would have to be 2,380 cfs at the Cameo gage, or
an additional 120 cfs.
Economic Impact of Changing Agricultural Rights'
Although this analysis is in the direct flow rights section of this report, the economic impacts
of changing any rights, either direct flow or storage, to instream flow purposes are the same.
The economic activity generated by the agricultural business was divided into four different
sectors. These sectors include: Agricultural Input, Farm Production, Agricultural Processing
and Marketing, and Food Wholesaling and Retailing. The percentage of activity generated
by the agricultural industry compared to the overall economic activity for various counties is
presented in table 3. For example in Eagle County the assessed valuation for agricultural
land on only 1 percent of the county valuation, while ag sales account for 27 percent of the
total sales tax revenue. Agriculture does play a significant role in county employment, gross
sales, and sales tax revenue.
Table 3
Influence of agriculture on county economics
Assessed
valuation Gross Sales tax
of ag land Employment sales revenue
County % % % %
Eagle 1 23 29 27
Grand 3 24 26 23
Mesa 6 23 32 16
Pitkin 1 30 25 25
Routt 6 19 27 17
Garfield 3 22 18 15
Summit 0 19 30 30
' The information used for the economic impact analysis was taken from Colorado's Farm and Food
System: Economic Contributions to Rural and Metropolitan Counties, DARE Research Report AR:87-5,
Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics, October 1987.

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