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<br />f!" ,. " ~! <br />lJvt..p~ <br /> <br />conserved water - "the quantative difference between the historic consumptive use of the <br />right and [the] lesser consumptive use ...;no amount of water shall be <br />included which historically constituted waste, after taking into account <br />and giving effect to the then prevailing and accepted methods and <br />norms for the agricultural water use." SB 85-95 (as introduced); SB 86- <br />126 (as introduced) <br /> <br />Consistent with those definitions of "salvaged" water and "conserved" water and for the <br />sake of clarity, we will only use the term "salvage" to describe reductions- in historical <br />consumptive use, signifying the retrieval of water previously lost to the system through <br />evaporation, evapo- transpiration, or deep percolation to non-tributary aquifers. Likewise, <br />the term "saved water" will be used to describe the larger increment of water produced by <br />changes to historical diversion rates made possible with efficiency improvements. <br /> <br />C. Methods of Improving Irrigation Efficiency <br /> <br />An accepted measure of overall irrigation efficiency is the ratio of crop consumptive use <br />to gross headgate diversions. This efficiency can be improved by either reducing diversions <br />or increasing crop consumptive use (or by a combination of both). Generally, the expanded <br />use doctrine prevents adding new consumptive uses to a decreed Colorado water right. In <br />the circumstance, where an irrigator who historically has never had enough water to satisfy <br />his crop needs finds a way to get more water to his existing acreage increased consumptive <br />use may be allowed. Efficiency changes considered herein will focus on methods of reducing <br />the diversion side of the efficiency ratio. <br /> <br />Often, an increase in efficiency is endorsed as a reduction in ''waste'' without any attempt <br />to define the term ''waste''. Non-consumptive losses generate return flows which are used <br />by others and are not necessarily wasted. While frequently an increase in irrigation <br />efficiency is promoted as conserving water supplies and in the public interest, such <br /> <br />7 <br />