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. . w en N W CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION The Colorado River Basin The research described in this report deals with aspects of water management, policy and specific planned reuses of water in the 244,000 square mile area of the Colorado River Basin (CRB). The pur- pose and scope of this study are strongly shaped by the unusual geo- graphic, climatic, and political characteristics of the Colorado River Basin. Earlier studies have described in detail the need for salinity control and the consequent incentives for water reusel in terms of Ba- sin physical characteristics, demands on water supplies, and predicted development. Those parameters remain in effect as the demands of ener- gy development begin to strain already scarce water resources. Physical characteristics of the CRB. The Colorado River stretches 1,400 miles through portions of seven states and northern Mexico before emptying into the Gulf of California. Its drainage basin includes the five driest states in the nation (Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico), the seventh driest (Colorado), and the desert portions of California. The. climate of the Basin extends from the semi- arid Rockies and high plains of Wyoming and Colorado to the arid desert of Arizona, Water supply in the CRB, The mean annual precipitation in the Basin ranges from nine to 17 inches (excluding the non-basin portion of the seven states). Most of the water in the river comes from high moun- tain snowmelt supplemented by occasional summer rains and by natural springs, In the Lower Basin (see Figure '1) evaporation and transpira- tion can exceed rainfall by more than 600,000 af/yr.2 ISee, for example: Richard L, Perrine, et al., Institutional Barriers to Waste Water Reuse in Southern California (Washington, D.C.: U.S, Department of the Interior, Office of Water Research and Technology, 1979); A. Bruce Bishop, et al., Evaluating Water Reuse Alternatives in Water Resource Planning (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Inte- rior, Office of Water Research and Technology, 1974); the entire January 1975 issue of Natural Resources Journal, 15:1, University of New Mexico School of Law; U.S. Department of the Interior, Critical Water Problems Facing the Eleven Western States (Washington, D.C.: Government Print- ing Office, 1975). 2Water Resources Council, The Nation's Water Resources, Part IV: Water Supply and Water Quality Considerations (Washington, D.C.: Govern- ment Printing Office, 1979), pp. 108-109. 1