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<br />,).J _., <br />'I :; r- .' <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />mIAT co LDRADO 's aOUlrr All! hATERS ;,lEAlJ <br />TO THE STATE AnD THE EATION <br /> <br />Colorado's mountains produce an average of 11,580,000 acre-feet of <br />water annually. Less than one-third of this" amount is utilized in <br />Colorado to produce crcps, to generate power, and to provide municipal <br />and industrial ~ater requirements. The balance of this huge water <br />.upply is utilized in the states of Hew ,"exico, Utah, Arizona, lJevada, <br />California, Wyomin~, Nebraska and Kansas. <br /> <br />"nat is an acre-foot of water? It is the amount of water that would <br />covor an acre of land to a depth of one foot - or about 526,000 gallons. <br />The potential utilization of this vast water supply has only begun. What <br />is the potential value of an acre-foot of water running from this mountain <br />area? 1m avoraje acre-foot of water from the streo.ms of the Rocky l.lountains <br />can produce 2,000 kiloviatt-hours of electric ener;y worth, wholesale," :~20 <br />(power enough to light ten averago-sizod ;~orican homes for two months). <br />The sa.me ac"re-foot of water can supply municipal dO!TI'tn::ls worth retail (;;45 <br />(at tho o.verc.:;o r<>te prevailing in many western to\.'IlS of IS)!' per 1,000 <br />gallons), and it can ~o on to produce 50 bushels of corn werth ~50; or <br />, l' I <br />two tons of alfalfa worth )40; or 6'2 tons of su~ar beots worth .,,75. <br />Thereforo, the gross value of an average acre-foot of water which flovis " <br />from the mountains of Colorado if complctcly utilizcd could produce from <br />~105 to ~140 worth of wealth. <br /> <br />On your trip today yeu have ridden for many miles through South <br />Boulder Canyon, from which flows South Boulder Creek. This small tribu- <br />tary stream produces annually 60,000 acre-feot of water. Using our <br />hypothetieal analysis given abovo, thc potential value of "this strea.m <br />from an agricultural, municipal, and industrial standpoint could be from <br />~6,OOO,000 to 88,000,000 annually. But this does not describe the full <br />"value of the stro~~ nor its water supply. This stre~ and many like it <br />in this vicinity ~~ke up one of the finest recre~ticnc.l QreQs in the <br />United States. Color~do's gross income from tourist recreation in 1948 <br />was ",bout "~l50,OOO, 000. The South Platte River watershEd of which Boulder <br />Creek is a tributary produces 1,100,000 Qore-feet of wuter Qnnually which <br />"permits irri~ation of 850,000 acros of l~nd in northeastern ColorGdo. <br />The gross crop incomc from this irris~ted area is Qbout ~42,500,OOO at <br />1959 to 1941 average prices. <br /> <br />Colorado is blessed with a vast arO~ of potentir.lly irri~able lQnds <br />on her eastern slopes. iiere these l,.nds to be irrigQted, the water <br />requirement would be far greater thc.n the water supply c"vnilo.ble. In <br />order tho.t some of these lo.nds may be ~oro adequately irrigated Qnd th~t <br />othors ~y he given Qn initiQl ,~tcr supply, scvcrQ! ~rcQt projects Qro <br />under construotion or are boin~ investiG~ted, which would brin; the surplus <br />