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~ ~ 1.;,.:. '""'" i CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS o After a careful study of the Engineering Advisory Committee's report. I fail to find any justification for their statement that Colorado has consumed or "burnt up" over an average of one million acre feet of water annually and that that amount should be deducted from Colorado's small share of 3, 855, 000 acre feet before any new uses are considered. If they had attempted to show us where the one billion four hundred .million tons of water annually went it wouldlhave helped--other than "burnt up". .' It is evident that by comparing the measured results on the St. Vrain with the estimated r.esults on the Uncompahgre that the formulae they . used is considerably out of line. I do not consider John Erickson's work on the Uncompahgre finished since he does not account for the water entering and leaving the underground area each year, at least a portion of which might have been measured had he established gaging stations on the main Gunnison River above and below the Project. In view of the above study, I recommend that Colorado adopt the concept of the indestructibility of water and that due to physical conditions as they exist in the Colorado River Basin in Colorado, that man's activities to date ~ that Basin has not affected the stream flow at Lee Ferry to any measurable extent. Water diverted out of the Basin is something differenttyet, according to the Eng~eering Committee, that is not a straight line deduction due to the salv:age obtained by smaller amounts running down the river cutting down on evaporation and side stream losses. I As to th,e attitude of the other Upper Basin states toward their consump- tiveuse losses, that is their business. I am satisfied, however, that man's activities in those stM ~as not affected, to any measurable extent, the stream flow at Lee Ferry. Mills E. Bunger -19-