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<br />Cj <br />--.1 <br />~ <br />C)l <br /> <br />It should.benoted that declines tn t~~tgated .ag~icultu~e tn the <br />ene~gy impact a~eas oJ; the Uppe~ Basin a~e.lIlo~e apt to ~esult J;~om othe~ <br />circumstances. than from. tbMsJ;e~sof wate~; J;o~ example, there is lIlounting <br />evidence that lIligration of workers. out of th.e ag~icultural labor market <br />into the more finanaially lucrative energy industries could reduce .agri- <br />cultural activities. Other factors that could cause declines in irrigated <br />agriculture, irrespective of'luestions of water. transfers, include urban <br />land conversion pressures in energy impacted communities and the general <br />cost-price squeeze. that agricultural enterprises face. In short, agri- <br />cultural activities, and the social conditions associated with them, will <br />probably change even if EETs do not purchase water from -irrigated agri- <br />culture. <br /> <br />Insofar as fishery and recreational impacts are concerned, reductions <br />in the projected levels of consumption for irrigated agriculture due to <br />transfers of water to BETs:' in any given subbasin would increase stream <br />flows relative to what they would otherwise be. Fishery habitat conditions <br />and recreational opportunities oould be different from those to be other- <br />wise expected. However, since transfers of significant amounts of water <br />out of irrigated agriculture are not anticipated, no effort was made to <br />quantitatively assess just how these impacts might change. <br /> <br />Impacts of Developing Ground Water. As with the economic and social <br />impacts of reservoir construction and operation, the impacts of well drilling <br />and maintenance would pale in comparison to the economic and social changes <br />that would be caused by the EET industires themselves. For example, the <br />social and economic impacts associated with the industry itself would be <br />two to three orders of magnitude greater than anything that might be caused <br />by the few extra workers needed to maintain and operate well fields. <br /> <br />Perhaps the most important aspect of utilizing ground water as a source <br />of supply is that relatively large rates of pumping would lead to mining of <br />the ground water resource. Thus, the decision to utilize such waters, which <br />have been stored over geologic time, represents an irrevocable decision to <br />deplete an essentially nonrenewable resource. The question in all such <br />instances is whether benefits would be maximized by using such a resource <br />now as opposed to using it at some point in the future. <br /> <br />To the extent that consumption of surface supplied (including that which <br />originates at tributary ground water) might be reduced by EET use of ground <br />water water reserves, stream flows would increase relative to those to be <br />expected.were EETs~ to rely solely upon: 'surface supplies. Given the fact that <br />the White River Basin would be both the most probable site of ground water <br />use by EETs and the most significantly depleted stream systelIl if surface <br />supplies were utilized, it is apparent that use of ground water has the <br />potential to reduce impacts on the White River's fishery and recreational <br />resources relative to that they would otherwise be if only surface water <br /> <br />cxx <br />