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<br />~ <br />~ <br />~ <br /> <br />00 With respect to economic impacts, an acre-foot of water transferred <br />to EET use from irrigated agriculture would, ,all other'things being equal, <br />result in a regional loss 'in personal income'due to reductions 'in the size <br />of agricult~ral secCor. However, there would be a regional income gain due <br />to the increased size of the EET sectors. Generally speaking, the gain would <br />be from 10 to 100 times greater than the'loss. Any such transfers would <br />also result in a redistribution of income and economic wealth, but these <br />consequences have not been examined in this study. <br /> <br />Transfers of water from irrigated agriculture may reduce the number <br />of farm units in a region and, in turn, the number of families deriving <br />their means from such enterprises. Thus, one migbt be tempted to infer <br />that significant changes in the rural nature of the Upper Basin would <br />accompany such transfers. However, the Upper Basin (or certain counties <br />therein) will bear scant resemblance to the rural area it is today if <br />either of the two postulated levels of EET development comes to pass. One <br />must conclude that such transfers would play a minor role in shaping <br />social conditions in the Upper Basin relative to the larger' economic and <br />demographic forces that will be brought to bear by EET development in <br />general. - <br /> <br />It should, also be noted that declines in irrigated agriculture in <br />EET impact areas of the Upper Basin may result from circumstances other <br />than transfers of water. For example, migration of workers out of the <br />agricultural labor market into the more lucrative energy industries could <br />reduce agricultural activities. Other factors that could cause declines <br />in'irrigated agriculture, regardless of questions of water transfers, <br />include urban land conversion pressures in energy impacted communities <br />and the general cost-price squeeze that agricultural enterprises face. <br />In short, agricultural activities and the social conditions associated <br />with them will probably change even if EETs, do not purchase water from <br />irrigated agriculture. <br /> <br />Insofar as fishery and recreational impacts are concerned, reduc- <br />tions in the projected levels of consumption for irrigated agriculture <br />due to transfers of water to EETs in any given subbasin would increase <br />stream flows relative to what they would otherwise be. Fishery habitat <br />conditions and recreational opportunities could, therefore, be different <br />from those to be otherwise expected. However, since transfers' of sig- <br />nificant amounts of water out of irrigated agriculture are not anti- <br />cipated, no effort was made in this study to quantitatively assess just <br />how these impacts might change. <br />, <br /> <br />Impacts of Developing Ground Water. As with the economic and social <br />impacts of reservoir construction and operation, the impacts of well <br />drilling and maintenance would pale in contrast to the economic and <br /> <br />1-13 <br />