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<br />. <br />. <br /> <br />~~",,::,,_.,;;;;.--....:-.;: <br /> <br />INTRODUCfION <br /> <br />The major shift in western water policy that began during the 1980s and continues <br />into this decade is the reallocation of water supplies to higher valued uses. The basis for <br />this change has been a scarcity of reasonably priced water as streams become fully <br />appropriated, aquifers mined, and large water development projects defeated by growing <br />environmental and economic opposition. <br /> <br />Environmental support for greater reliance on market allocation of water has grown <br />as an alternative to reservoir construction. Economists are supplementing legal staffs in <br />many environmental interest group offices. 11!e Environmental Defense Fund in particular <br />has promoted the use of markets and negotiated water transfers between municipalities <br />and farmers to relieve pressure on stressed water supplies. <br /> <br />With the demise of proposed reservoirs like Colorado's Two Forks (which would <br />have impounded 1.1 million acre-feet of water for use by 42 Front Range municipalities), <br />local governments are seeking supplemental supplies in the water market. Water transfers <br />may carry with them, however, environmental and economic costs in the area of origin that <br />will generate opposition comparable to that for dam proposals. There is a need to balance <br />legitimate water demands of municipalities (the higher valued uses in economic terms) <br />with the equally legitimate concerns of communities in the exporting basins who stand to <br />absorb whatever impacts may occur. <br /> <br />This report examines the public interest impacts of western water transfers. It <br /> <br /> <br />focuses on large water acquisitions or diversions that make fundamental changes in the way <br /> <br /> <br />water can be used in the area from which it is transported. It is concerned solely with the <br /> <br /> <br />interbasin transfer of water, which oftentimes amounts to mining a scarce resource because <br /> <br /> <br />return flows are effectively precluded. <br /> <br />: " .-" r" ~ <br />;<; .~. d .___ <br /> <br />',',", ~-~. -,,,.,, It -"0 <br />lloo~":,';!.i..-- ~jf'{~._i/',:..."..l-;;\\, iLl <br /> <br />1 <br /> <br />t. ~ I .. <br /> <br />..~::;~, ..':0 E".~:2-.J2 <br />