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<br />" <br /> <br />,I; <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />I' <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />purposes at the present time is about 200,000 acre-feet <br /> <br />annually. I wish to particularly emphasize the words "consump- <br /> <br />tive use." The amount of water diverted from the streams or <br /> <br />pumped from the ground is obviously much greater. It is also <br /> <br />estimated that in excess of 6,000,000 acre-feet of water <br /> <br />annually is being used conslli~ptively for agricultural purposes. <br /> <br />I will tentatively state that we have at least <br /> <br />another 2,000,000 acre-feet of water available in Colorado <br /> <br />Which can be consumptively used without violating the various <br /> <br />state compacts and Supreme Court decisions. <br /> <br />The United States Geological Survey estimates that <br /> <br />about 90,000,000 acre-feet of water falls annually as precip- <br /> <br />itation in Colorado. Of this total amount, only about 16,000,000 <br /> <br />acre-feet is measurable as streamflow. By far, the greater part <br /> <br />of the annual precipitation is lost through evapotranspiration. <br /> <br />A small portion'of the precipitation contributes to ground water <br /> <br />storage. A further estimate is that at the present time we <br /> <br />are diverting from the surface and the sub-surface about <br /> <br />11,000,000 acre-feet annually, which results in the consumptive <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />use figures which I previously recited. <br /> <br />It could easily be assumed from the figures quoted <br /> <br />that we should have no difficulty in supporting an urban <br /> <br />population many times greater than now exists. The problems, <br /> <br />-2- <br />