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<br />I~":' <br /> <br />",',' <br />~"r <br />. <br /> <br />\ <br />. <br />.i <br />.~ <br /> <br />," <br /> <br />'!'HE UPPER COLORADO RIVER BASIN AND COLORADO'S WATER INTERESTS <br />THE SUBSTANCE OF THE 1982 REPORT <br /> <br />THE DIFFICULT CHOICES AHEAD <br /> <br />Water, more than energy, is Colorado's long-term critical resource. <br /> <br />Four major rivers begin in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. In three <br />rivers -- the South Platte, the Arkansas, and the Rio Grande -- <br />Colorado is consuming all or almost all of the water to which it <br />appears entitled. Thus, it is, that Coloradoans covetously cast their <br />eyes on the Colorado River. <br /> <br />WATER AVAILABILITY ON THE "MIGHTY" COLORADO RIVER <br /> <br />With an average virgin flow of approximately 16 million acre-feet a <br />year, the Colorado serves some 18 million people in 7 states and <br />Mexico, and is almost invariably consumed in its entirety. <br /> <br />There is little doubt that this river is the most controlled, <br />controversial, and litigated river in the world,. It is subject to <br />competing demands which are becoming more competitive while available <br />supply diminishes. <br /> <br />Under Interstate compacts -- principally those of 1922 and 1948 -- the <br />seven Western States benefiting from the River's waters were divided <br />into the "Upper Basin" and the "Lower Basin". By terms of the 1922 <br />Compact, each basin was to receive 7.5 million acre-feet annually. The <br />1948 Compact among the Upper Basin states allocated a little over half <br />of the Upper Basin share, apparently 3.9 million acre-feet annually to <br />Colorado. <br /> <br />However, several factors have intervened since the compacts were signed <br />which make them a water user's curse and a water lawyer's delight. <br />Further, current management practice on the River seem to leave the <br />Upper Basin with only 5.55 million acre-feet for consumptive use. <br />Thus, Colorado's share of the river plummets to some 2.85 million acre- <br />feet annually. <br /> <br />California presently exceeds its entitlement from the Colorado River by <br />nearly one million acre-feet. Addi tionally, the Central Arizona <br />Project (CAP), when completed, will capture another one million acre- <br />feet plus annually. <br /> <br />If and when the issue of Colorado's remaining entitlement to some of <br />this water is disputed, the legal compact clearly favors Colorado; yet <br />the unspoken law of the River, "Use it or lose it," combined with the <br />political clout of downstream states poses a formidable obstacle. <br /> <br />- 2 - <br />