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<br />:.. <br /> <br />~ <br />N <br />o <br />.1-" <br /> <br /> <br />'II <br /> <br />. . <br />,I <br />" <br />!m <br /> <br />, , <br />.. <br /> <br />. DEVELOPMENT OF THE COLORADO RIVE'R BASIN <br /> <br />". ; <br /> <br />I rr ill;a,t:l.onDeVeloP"1ent' <br /> <br />The earliest known irdg,U:ien dev..lopm..nt in the Colorado 'Rivar Basin was <br />apparen1:1y practiced by the Hohokam ,ndisns in the Salt 'River. V..lley near <br />Pho..n:l:x, Arizona, where canal remnants csn still be .found toc:\ay(Keys and <br />Strand, ;1.979). The mora moclern irrigation systems startacl in the 1850 's. <br />Thia devalopment "Was primarily in the alluvial valleys directly bordering the <br />str..ams and was limited by gr....t qu..ntitativeancl't..illporal fluc1:uations in. the <br />wat..r supply. With th.. developm..nt of sto'tag.. faellit1as and lllOr.. intricate <br />distribution aystems ,th.. irrigat:ed aTeas 'greatly expanded. For the inter- <br />ssted reacler, Goslin (1978) presents an ~csllent review of the history of <br />watar.resources dsv..lopmant in the Colorado Riv..r. Basin. <br /> <br />The amount of irrigated land in the Ue'RB is presently estima1:ec1 at about <br />656,000 ha or 2 p..rcent of the total land 'area. Muoh more. land .coulclbe <br />irrIgated if wat..r were available. TheSoilCons..rvatien Servioe has .c:lassi- <br />Hed a total of 2.,855,900 ha of .landaa "suitable" for iuigation in the UCRJl <br />(Gardner sncl Stewart, 1975). About 99 perc..nt of the irrigat..dlandia seTVecl <br />entir..ly by ,surface water supp.Ues" Figure S :f.ndicatea th.. extent ofirriga'- <br />tion'developmentin the baSin. ... <br /> <br />Ener~y Development <br /> <br />USDI (1974) states that, although; salinity ispresent+y the most serioua <br />wateT quality problem in the Uppar Colorado River. Basin, en..rgy development. <br />also presents som.. potentially serIous problems ."AcIditional muniC:tpaland <br />industrial wastes, ..ecIiment, heavy metals, tllxic materiels, and undesirable <br />bacteria, temperature and c1issolved.oxygenc:on1:entlevels,in the streams.ancl <br />rivers pose future Concerns for' the b..sin. . Without strict 'monitoring 'and ' <br />enforcement of existing water ,quality laws, 'localized problems, in .llddition to <br />salinity, such as s..diment production, can be ..xp..cted .to occur on the minor <br />trIbutar'iea. . <br /> <br />Because of the pr..sent energyahortage, the slow developmllntof SOlsT <br />p.o<ter, ancl. the long c1elays in nuclear power, pl..nt con..truction, the us.. of the <br />large eoar (Fig. 9) and oil shale (Fig. 10) deposits in the Upl'erCOloraclo <br />'Riv..r. Basin appeercritical to the nation IS energy..needs. Oth..r signifil'8Tlt <br />energy resource.. ar.. unnium (Fig. 11) ancl tllr sancls d..posits (Fig. 12). <br /> <br />'. <br /> <br />Cc;>rsentino (1976)present..d: alist1ng of knmpla.nJ;i.ed and propos..d <br />, . en"rgy c1..velopments in the "W..st8TnUnited Stat..s (Table 2), inolucling 125 <br />. , areaa'~catedinthe.Coloredoll.i..,;.er . Basin. ' Thel'e ,.hav..beenoth<>~. proj ecre <br />prop.osed and dropped since this report wes 'issued, but the relat:tv..numbers <br />can be expectecl to remain ap.proximately the same. <br /> <br />Energy int..rest groups hav.. been actively invelvecl in th.. purchase of <br />agricultural wat..r rights. The actual extent and quantity of this aetivity is <br />difficult to ass..ss, but th.. ..conomic viability of many minor tributarIes will <br />b.. sev..rely affected by these water transfers. The USDI (1974) conservatively <br />estimates that about 5 p..reent (11,100 ha""1ll) of current agricultural water <br /> <br />24 <br /> <br />