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<br />000992 <br /> <br />conservation there are problems with developing uniform standards. What is the standard for <br /> <br />conservation - or for reasonable use? The concept of reasonable use scares an ,economist. <br /> <br />With so many standards and concepts, there is great variation from region to region. Rather <br /> <br />than legislate it may be better to let the local people and local markets decide what reasonable <br /> <br />use is, However, water quality issues are different and local people and local market forces <br /> <br />may not work as well to protect water quality as they do to protect water quantity,2 <br /> <br />There was further support for legislative coercion, With few exceptions, ~ercion and <br /> <br />regulation is a fact of life and the districts will respond to this pressure. Of course we can't go <br /> <br />too far with this idea, We can't define water duty per acre for every farm in the West. This <br /> <br />has not and will not work. If we want to modify internal makeup and operation of irrigation <br /> <br />districts and their ability to respond to change, this can be done by pressures from the outside, <br /> <br />We are not talking about a large quantity of water, since a ten percent reduction in agricultural <br /> <br />use would supply an abundance of water for other uses. <br /> <br />An example of a case where legislation was proposed in order to force a change on a <br /> <br />district board is the rerent proposed amendment to the Water Rights Settlement Act (5, 1554) <br /> <br />that tried to force the Truckee-Carson Irrigation District Board to bring members with other <br /> <br />. interests including environmental interests onto tbe board, Although tbe legislation did not pass <br /> <br />2 There is anotber problem witb the cOncept of cOnservation. Most municipalities don't <br />plan conservatively. They optimistically predict their growth and. they over-acquire water <br />supplies. H cities carefully analyze their future needs and buy options ratber than water rights, <br />a lot of water would be freed up for other uses.. Conservation is more fully discussed in a later <br />sectiOn of this -paper. . <br /> <br />14 <br />