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<br />N <br />W <br />t- <br />CJ1 <br /> <br />Irrigated Agriculture. Irrigated agriculture accounts 'for about 60 <br />percent of the Upper Basin's projected depletions in the year 2000. This <br />amounts to average annual depletions ranging from about, 2.6 maf to 2.9 <br />maf depending upon which of several different projections one has under <br />consideration. Even if only small percentage reductions in consumption <br />could be attained by improving the efficiency of use, this would trans- <br />late into relatively large amounts of water. <br /> <br />About 80 percent of the total depletions resulting from the activity <br />of irrigated agriculture in the Upper Basin are attributable to crop up- <br />take an~ transpiration. The other 20 percent is lost under present irri- <br />gation~ractices through evaporation or evapotranspiration'by noncrop <br />vegetation.l Thus, it appears at first glance that the 2.6 to 2.9 maf of <br />projected depletions for irrigated agriculture could be reduced by better <br />than 500,000 acre-feet per year. <br /> <br />However, the cost of achieving improvements in irrigation efficiencies <br />will make the attainment of any such reductions in consumption unlikely. <br />It is estimated that it would cost roughly $700 million to reduce Upper <br />Basin irrigation depletions by about 130,000 acre-feet per year. While <br />this cost (about $5,000 per acre-foot) also leads to other benefits, such <br />as improvements in water quality, it is highly unlikely that improvements <br />in the efficiency of irrigated agriculture will be a particularly attractive <br />means of making water available for EETs. <br /> <br />Impacts of Developing Water Supplies for Emerging Energy Technologies <br /> <br />Developing water supplies for EETs may be expected to have a variety <br />of economic, social, and ecological impacts. Furthermore, the impacts <br />will vary from one means of supply to the next (e.g., surface water and <br />ground water development may be expected to lead to different sets of <br />impacts). The likely impacts are discussed below and are set in the con- <br />text of the economic and social conditions to which EET development in <br />general may give rise. <br /> <br />An Overview of Potential Economic and Social Conditions. The effect <br />that future growth would have upon the economy of the Upper Basin is <br />perhaps best measured by the personal income that would accrue to the <br />residents of the Region. Even without EET development, projected increases <br /> <br />1. Water that moves into the ground water system is not lost from the <br />perspective of an overall water budget. It simply returns to the hydro- <br />logic system at a different time and space. <br /> <br />1-10 <br />