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The Ties That Bind: Physical and Economic Linkages Among Colorado's Water Resources Systems Daniel F. Luecke and David W. Fanning - Environmental Defense Fund Introduction The economic history of.any region is determined by its natural resources, its climate, its topography and, often, by chance. As the economy of a region (like a state) grows, it moves beyond subsistence and becomes more integrated with surrounding regions. The same phenomenon occurs within regions as basic industries like mining, manufacturing, and sometimes agriculture create the demand for transportation and other infrastructure and the variety of services that accompany a region's growth. Costs are reduced, bottlenecks eliminated and further economic development facilitated. In Colorado, this drama has been played out in little more than 100 years. Where Colorado goes from here depends to some extent on how it reached its current level of development, how it allocates its resources and energies in the future, and how it manages the subregion linkages that have become increasingly important over time. Colorado's geography has made it, literally, the roof of the United States. As Coloradans are fond of pointing out, four major river systems (Colorado, South Platte, Arkansas, and Rio Grande) and seven minor ones (North Platte, Laramie, Republican, San Juan, Animas, White and Yampa) originate in Colorado (Foss, 1.978). In t:ot:al, the average annual flow of surface water in the State is about 16 million acre-feet. A majority of that water flows out of the State to pass through or form the boundary of 18 other states. To protect its interests in a share of this water, Colorado is party to almost half the existing int;erstat:e water allocation compacts and retrains a claim to 5.5 million of the 16 million acre--feet flowing in its streams (Foss, 1978). (In addition, Colorado has an estimated 2 billion acre feet of recoverable ground water in the State [Tregarthen, 1983]). Colorado does not currently use all the surface water to which it is entitled, especially in the Colorado River Bassin, and there are fears that lower basin states, principally California and Arizona, will use Colorado's water and be unwilling to relinquish it when Colorado wants to develop it. Of the water Colorado does use, 80 percent is used for irrigation and 20 percent is allocated for municipal, industrial and other uses (Foss, 1978). It. is an almost unchallenged tenet of semi-arid states like Colorado that economic development and water development are inextricably linked to one another. The idea is simple: economic development: depends on a substantial and cheap source of water. No one will argue that water is not a factor in economic growth--water must obviously be available for growth to occur.. But Colorado economic history makes it clear that other factors have greater importance. Today, western water is no longer just another commodity. There is an appreciation for its intrinsic life and beauty and a growing awareness that water in the stream may be as valuable in the economic context of the State as water diverted or stored for "beneficial use". The purpose of this paper is to trace a few of the physical and economic factors that have shaped economic development in the State and to identify the relationship between those factors and the development of water systems. Historically, water developers were constrained only by the prior appropriations doctrine. Today, more is at stake. Water development has implications for every region of the State. Water used along the Front Range affects skiers in Summit County, hotel owners in Glenwood Springs, farmers and ranchers in Grand Junction, and maybe most importantly, the economic interests of Colorado itself. Presented for Colorado Water Workshop, July 27-29, 1987 ***See authors Western State College, Gunnison, CO note on last page.*** - 1 -