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<br />~ <br /> <br />The Colorado River flows through 1,440 miles of arid, to semi-arid <br />land, but this river basin only produces about 60 acre-feet of water <br />per square mile which is less than that produced by any other major <br />river in the United States. (Utah Water Research Laboratory, 1975). <br />Presently, this river serves 15 million people by supplying water to <br />cities, to irrigated agriculture, and to energy production, industry, <br />and mining. It is anticipated that the urban population of the Colorado <br />River basin will increase about 250% between 1960 and 2000 thereby <br />requiring a threefold increase in municipal water use (Crawford and <br />Peterson, 1973). In addition, the development of some of the largest <br />sources of natural energy fuels in the country will require a large <br />quantity of water in the future. <br /> <br />.. <br /> <br />The history and importance of the Colorado River Basin is described <br />concisely by Cra~ford and Peterson (1973): <br /> <br />UThe Colorado is probably the most utilized, controlled and <br />fought over river in the world. It flows through lands of <br />incomparable beauty and includes nearly seven percent of the <br />nation's contiguous land mass, including parts of seven states. <br />From the time of the early settlers to the present, the water <br />of the Colorado River has been the key to development of the <br />arid region.u <br /> <br />Numerous water development projects have been completed, others <br />are in progress, and still others are contemplated for the Upper <br />Colorado River Basin. Although much information is available on this <br />valuable river basin, it is widely scattered among various institutions, <br />and federal and state agencies. <br /> <br />The original purpose of this annotated biob1iography was to compile <br />information on the distribution, relative abundance, and ecology of fish <br />and macroinvertebrates in the Upper Colorado River Basin as a ready refer.... <br />ence source for present and future studies. However, it soon became apparent <br />to us that the addition of selected references from various disciplines such <br />as archeology, ecology, economics, geology, history, hydrology, and la~, <br />as well as other subjects, would greatly enhance the value of this refer- <br />ence by broadening its usefulness. We therefore, included subjects as <br />references that would have a direct or indirect effect on the river <br />environment and, consequently on the aquatic organisms that inhabit this <br />river. References on the ecology and life history of fish or macroinverte- <br />brates from the lo~er basin or other waters are included to add to the <br />understanding of these organisms in the upper basin. In addition, other <br />~ references are included that may not deal specifically with the Upper <br />Colorado River, but that may be valuable for knowledge or interpretation. <br /> <br />~ Selected keywords were assigned to all references and are indexed for <br />convenience and ease in locating the literature on particular subjects. <br />The annotations are brief, but descriptive and should further help in <br />choosing references for detailed review by the reader. <br /> <br />For reports that are published annually, such as the U. S. Geological <br />Survey water supply and aquatic records, only the latest volume was given <br />as a reference with the beginning date of the series. <br />