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<br />warmer than the water from ground water recharge from <br />agriculture, and may affect the stream flora and fauna either <br />negatively or positively. The costs of municipal waste cleanup <br />and control of salinity levels may be increased in some areas and <br />reduced in others. The timing, water level, temperature, and <br />quality of return flows affect fish and wildlife, quality of <br />water available to downstream users, recreational Use of instream <br />flows, and the level of erosion affecting the river condition. <br /> <br />When water is transferred from agricultural land to other <br />uses, the land taken out of production may pose problems for <br />adjacent land. Blowing dust and weeds threaten adjacent land, <br />requiring additional expenditures to control them. Legislation <br />passed by the 1992 Colorado legislature requires court decrees to <br />include revegetation plans. Previous decrees have included such <br />plans. Aurora is reported to be having difficulty in <br />revegetating some of the land taken out of production as a result <br />of purchases of water in the lower Arkansas Valley. The <br />provisions of Aurora's decree and the measures taken by the city <br />to meet its revegetation obligation are likely to provide a basis <br />for other such decrees. <br /> <br />Alternative Management Approaches <br /> <br />Water law varies between states. Colorado may be able to <br />glean some ideas from other states, ideas that will help the <br />state to better position itself for the era of water <br />reallocation. <br /> <br />The "no inj~" rule is the'only universal restriction on <br />water transfers.10 Most western states other than Colorado <br />initiate water right changes through an administrative procedure, <br />using the court as a forum for appeal. A few states have laws <br />restricting the movement of water from one watershed to another, <br />applicable to new appropriations and to changes in established <br />water rights. California has a law reserving to the area-of- <br />origin all water necessary for future development, but it <br />provides no procedures or criteria for doing so. <br /> <br />Some of the issues and interests described above may be <br />handled by other states under their laws requiring that <br />appropriations of water not be contrary to the "public interest" <br />or the "public welfare."ll Most western states have some kind <br />of public interest review requirement. Colorado dOes not have a <br />this kind of requirement. <br /> <br />Colorado has an instream flow protection program, as do most <br />western states. These programs vary considerably. The Colorado <br />Water Conservation Board holds instream water rights to protect <br />cold-water fisheries. Some states reserve from appropriation <br />water in specific streams. Arizona and Alaska are the only two <br /> <br />14 <br />