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<br />. <br /> <br />- <br /> <br />0: <br />o <br /> <br />::..,' <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />PART Ill. HISTORY OF ~ATER RESOL~CE DEVELOPMENT <br /> <br />A. Irrigation Development <br /> <br />Irrigation development in the Upper Basin took place gradually from <br />the beginning of settlempnt in about 1860 but was hastened by thf' <br />purchase of land from the Indians in 1873. About 800,000 acres were <br />being irrigated by 1905. BetwPt'n 1905 and 1920 the development of <br />irrigated land continued at a rapid pace, and by 1920 nearly 1.4 million <br />acres wflre being irrigated. The development thpn levpled off, and <br />increase since that time has bepn ~low because of physical and econrnic <br />limitations on the availablility of water. <br /> <br />trrigat ion develop[I'lf'nt began in the Lower 8a.c;in at about the same <br />time as in the Upper F1asin but ....as slowed by difficult diversions from <br />the Colorado River with its ....idely fluctuating flows. Development of the <br />Gila area began in 187S and the Palo Verde area in 1879. Construction of <br />the Boulder Canyon Project in the 1930' s and other downstream projects <br />since that time have provided the means for Ii continued expansion of the <br />irrigated area. In 1970, an additional 21,800 acres ....ere irrigated by <br />private pumpinK E'ither directly from the Colorado River or fro:n wells <br />in the flood plain. In 1974, nearly 849,000 acres \.'ere irrigated from <br />Colorado River diversions below Hoover Dam. About 25,500 acrl"S of Lower <br />Basin lands in Utah are no.... under irrigation. <br /> <br />B. Streamflo.... Depletions <br /> <br />Development and utilization of the basin's ....atf'T resources result in <br />depletions of streamflows, particularly thp consumptive use of -.rater by <br />irrigated crops and exports to other basins. Reservoir evaporation and <br />consumptive use of ....ater for :-lb:l purposes also produce sillnificant <br />dE'ple-t ions. <br /> <br />The 1980 est imated cansumpt ivt' use of ....ater by all users in the <br />Upper Basin ....as approximately 3.5 ~AF. <br /> <br />\"'ater exported from the Upper Basin during the period 1941-72 <br />averaged about 360,000 acre-feet per year. Cornplption of such larlle <br />projects as the Colorado-5iiZ Thompson, Duchesnf' Tunnel, and Roberts <br />Tunnel, and more recent projects such as the San Juan-Chama, Fryingpan- <br />Arkansas, and Hompstake, r.:-sulted in increased exports to about 726,000 <br />acre-feet per year for 197t1-80, \o'ith a peak in 1978 of 852,000 acre-feet. <br /> <br />10 <br />