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<br />; <br /> <br />Consideration of pUblic interest values <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />*Need for planning to conserve the state's water resources. <br />including groundwater resources <br /> <br />Develop water management tools for mandatory basin management <br /> <br />*Lengthy local. state. and federal government review processes <br />for issuing permits for the construction of water resources <br />projects <br /> <br />Land use process of H.B. 1041 (1974 Session) <br /> <br />It is a common misconception that only economic values <br />(i.e.. the production of income) are taken into account by our <br />water rights system. On the contrary. our system recognizes <br />any of the values which people place in the use of water (be <br />they economic. ecological. environmental. aesthetic, social. <br />cultural. or recreational) so long as the use entails the <br />diversion or impoundment of water from a stream. this being <br />what makes it possible to define property rights to the use of <br />water. For example. the essentially non-economic values <br />associated with diversions of water for wetlands, fish <br />hatcheries. and irrigation of lawns and gardens. and with <br />impoundments for recreational and fishery purposes. have long <br />been obtainable in our water rights system. If one is willing <br />to pay the necessary costs of diverting or impounding water. . <br />then these values (benefits) can be realized. <br /> <br />On the other hand. it is impossible to define privately <br />owned rights to the use of water that is left in a stream. <br />This stems primarily from the fact that water in a natural <br />stream is a "fugitive" resource. the benefits of which cannot <br />be realized by one person to the exclusion of all others (i.e.. <br />instream uses yield "public benefits" or "public interest <br />values"). Thus. until 1973. instream uses of water. and the <br />values associated with such uses, were not accounted for by our <br />water rights system. <br /> <br />A corollary problem exists when the impacts. or costs, <br />which water diversions and impoundments impose on some are not <br />compensated for. For example. since private property rights <br />are generally not attached to fish and wildlife resources. <br />those who enjoy such resources 8re not paid by those engaged in <br />water development for the right to "use" the affected fish and <br />wildlife resources (as. for example. with the irreversible <br />commitment of fish and wildlife habitat to a reservoir). <br />Similarly. not all impacts on tne basin-of-origin resulting <br />from transbasin diversions are necessarily accounted for by the <br />marketplace. there being equity considerations which are not <br />reflected in the cost of developing such diversions. Finally. . <br />water quality effects are another good example of this problem. <br /> <br />-6- <br />