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,'".. ,- ii,':, f' , i I , '. ,. :\ ~; Aesthetics aside, minimum stream flow is crucial to natural habitat. Also, as stream flows drop the impact on human works such as irrigation structures and water treatment plants increases. Potable water guality is also affected. Decreasing flows by transmountain or other diversion does increase river salinity. The Colorado Water Conservation Board's best estimate is that present diversions of almost 540,000 acre-feet, annually, increase salinity levels at Imperial Dam in the lower Basin by almost 5lmg/1. These concerns -- salinity, wilderness, natural habitat, effect on waste water treatment plants, etc. -- are both separate and concurrent issues which, with proper planning and intelligent management, are amenable to compromise and resolution. Yet the overriding issue -- that water taken out of the Basin and transported across the mountains will not be returned to its original basin -- may not be resolved unless compensatory benefits are accepted in lieu of water. A BASIS FOR COMPROMISE ACROSS THE CONTINENTAL DIVIDE Is there room for compromise between the Eastern and Western Slope on high country water storage from the Colorado Mainstem? In the absence of such compromise, Colorado may one day face a water crisis of mammoth proportions. Fortunately, the possibility of joint effort between the two slopes appears more favorable than it has for years, though the distance to be covered remains long. In sum, any future transbasin diversions must yield joint benefits for the two slopes. A case in point is ""Windy Gap", the 1980 agreement between the Municipal Subdistrict of the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District and Western Slope water interests. Water users on the west side of the Continental Divide receive significant compensatory benefits while Eastern Slope cities as well as the Platte River Power Authority receive the benefit of a 54,000 acre-feet diversion. A practical approach on the part of the DWB might include: (1) A full commitment to reach the demand reduction goals of the Foothills Agreement; (2) construction of those projects -- a "Two Forks TYpe" dam, Straight Creek, the extension of Williams Fork, and enlargement of Gross Reservoir -- which do not involve major transmountain diversion; P' and (3) then, a realistic assessment of just how much water actually is needed from across the Continental Divide. ") If additional diversion is needed, the DWB might pursue the least costly and environmentally damaging diversion -- the East Gore Unit which gets water form Blue River tributaries. Then, there will need be a compromise with the headwater counties by not pursuing Eagle-Piney or Eagle-Colorado until after 2010 and only after a joint assessment of the need is completed a decade or so hence. - 6 -