PUB00057

• Year: 1978
• Title: The Colorado Water Study Directions for the Future
• CWCB Section: Water Conservation & Drought Planning
• Author: EDO DNR
• Description: First publicatiom of the Colorado Water Study volumes
• Publications - Doc Type: Brochure

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CllllH1I1llp.t I V.(' 1I!H't!

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With respect to municipal uses, the largest demand for additional
supplies will undoubtedly come from Front Range communities. However,
neither the magnitude of those demands, nor the specific sources of
water to be used, are known with certainty. The demand for water will
depend upon population growth and the extent to which water conserva-
tion practices are employed. The sources of new supplies will depend
upon their cost and availability. The two primary sources for Front
Range municipalities will most likely be trans basin diversions and
purchases of agricultural water rights. In addition, there may be
some opportunity for municipal-agricultural successive use arrange-
ments and for new reservoir facilities on the eastern slope to capture
very high spring runoffs or flood waters.

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Trends over the past 15 to 20 years substantiate the tendency to
rely on the purchase of agricultural water and on transbasin diversions
as a means of acquiring new municipal water supplies. For example, in
the South Platte Basin, it is estimated that Front Range communities
have purchased agricultural rights totaling 5 to 10 percent of all the
water presently consumed by irrigated agriculture. Furthermore, sev-
eral water condemnation actions have been filed by municipalities,
and many communities pursue an active water acquisition program. At
the same time, other cities have completed transbasin diversions and
have plans to further develop their remaining conditional decrees on
the western slope.

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As for energy conversion facilities, it is clear that at least
some industries, primarily on the western slope, are apt to grow dur-
ing the next 15 to 20 years. However, their demands for water are very
uncertain. National and international energy supply factors, economic
considerations, environmental concerns, and unresolved technological
questions make both the size of these industries and their water con-
sumption requirements difficult to determine. Equally unclear are the
sources of water upon which such energy conversion facilities may draw.
On the one hand, many conditional decrees exist for industrial (in-
cluding energy) purposes which could be developed in the future.
Whether those rights are used will probably depend upon how senior
they are and upon the cost of developing them into reliable water
supplies. On the other hand, senior agricultural rights could be
purchased from willing sellers. However, the current extent of such
purchases, if any, is unknown since there is no legal requirement
that water sales or options to purchase be publicly recorded. For
example, there would be no public record if water were purchased and
leased tack to an irrigato~ until the time it was needed by the energy
conversion industry. Thus, all that can be documented to date is
that a very small amount of water has actually been transferred from
agricultural to energy uses.

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