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<br />~ <br />~ <br />~~ The consequences of such changes are largely unknown. <br />CJ <br /> <br />The impacts of increased runoff on instream recreational opportunities <br />would probably be advantageous as a general rule. Rafting and kayaking <br />activities are more frequently limited by low flows than by flows which <br />are too large. Particularly advantageous woulu be any ,increase in the <br />period of time over which the spring snowmelt occurred, since this would <br />tend to lengthen the season for boating activities. <br /> <br />Impacts of Improving the Efficiency of Municipal Water Use. Improve- <br />ments in the efficiency of municipal uses would represent a significant <br />means of increasing the supply of water available for EETs only if ex- <br />ports of water to urban areas outside of the Upper Basin were reduced. <br />Thus, it is reductions in the size or number of such projects that would <br />be the source of Upper'Basin impacts. <br /> <br />The economic and social impacts on the Upper'Basin of reductions in <br />exports are likely to be insignificant. So few people are required to <br />operate and maintain a trans bas in diversion system that the economic and <br />social impacts of reducing the need for such facilities would probably <br />not be noticeable, whether beneficial or adverse. <br /> <br />Reductions in the projected exports ,of water out of the Upper.'Basin <br />would result in increased stream flows in amounts equal to the reductions. <br />Increased stream flows could lead to changes in fishery habitats and rec- <br />reational conditions relative to what would otherwise be the case. <br /> <br />Impacts of Improving the Efficiency of Irrigated Agriculture. A <br />reduction in water diverted for irrigation should result in reduced costs <br />for the irrigator. In most cases, crop production increases should also <br />result from improved irrigation water use and management. Better on-farm <br />management of water would generally result in less soil, fertilizer, and <br />pesticide loss; in increases in the yield and quality of crops; and prob- <br />ably in reductions in labor. Of course, costs would be incurred in order <br />to implement improvements in efficiency of use, which costs were already <br />mentioned. <br /> <br />Another potentially important impact would be reductions in salinity, <br />the economic consequences of which would be realized primarily in the <br />Lower Basin. These impacts would take the form of reductions in the costs <br />caused by salinity damage to crop yields, municipal water supply systems, <br />and so on. <br /> <br />Given the relatively small reductions in consumption ,to which assumed <br />improvements in irrigation practices would lead (120, 000 to 140,000 acre- <br />feet per year for the entire Upper Basin), it is'anticipated that there <br />would be no significant changes in fishery habitat conditions and recreational <br /> <br />1-15 <br />