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<br />n','..- I)~ <br />Uv~ _ . -, <br /> <br />Municipalities are generally allowed to expand their use of decreed water rights in the <br />sense that they need not divert the full decreed right i=ediately to claim it. The "great <br />, <br />and groWing cities" doctrine allows a city to secure more water than it currently can use so <br />that it may meet anticipated future needs. [Cite] By conserving water cities are able to <br />stretch out tbe time period over which they "grow into" their decreed rights; and forestall <br />additional facility construction and water rights acquisitions. When cities establish effective <br />conservation programs they are not inclined to transfer the saved increment to new uses, <br />rather they retain any savings for their own future customers. <br /> <br />An additional reason municipalities do not need salvage rights is because a significant <br />portion of their water supplies are considered fully consumable. Supplies which corne from <br />transmountain imports are considered developed water which is outside of the priority <br />system, and converted irrigation rights have already been reduced to historical consumptive <br />use during the change of water rights adjudication and can thus be used to extinction. <br /> <br />Industrial users divert and consume a small percent of the water used in Colorado. By <br />modernizing equipment and production methods these users could reduce their consumption <br />and/or diversion rates. Generally, they do so as a business decision spurred by several <br />market factors, Typical industrial uses are junior to agricultural rights and must purchase <br />existing rights to create firm supplies. To keep water purchase costs low, processes are <br />designed with conservation in mind. Additionally, industrial and municipal return flows are <br />subject to stringent permitting requirements under the Clean Water Act. To reduce <br />investment in expensive waste water treatment facilities, production processes are designed <br />and updated to minimize the amount of waste water produced. Still in a particular situation <br />the same arguments advanced in favor of an irrigation salvage or saved water right could <br />apply to older industrial plants. <br /> <br />. I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />III. Programs Resulting in Salvage <br />HB 91-1154 directed that this analysis be limited to "water salvage which may result from <br />federal programs, including salinity control." This limitation probably reflects the fact that <br /> <br />11 <br />