Laserfiche WebLink
<br />states would take the position that the water supplies available to <br /> <br />the state of Colorado from the Colorado River have already been <br /> <br />committed. We are not in agreement with this position, but we do <br /> <br />recognize that a serious water supply problem does exist. A solution <br /> <br /> <br />to this dilemma is possible. but it will not be easy. <br /> <br /> <br />I previously mentioned that there is at least 800,000 acre- <br /> <br /> <br />feet of water in the Colorado River system which is not now being used, <br /> <br /> <br />and to which Colorado is clearly entitled by any interpretation of <br /> <br /> <br />the compacts. All of this water has been awarded to various users <br /> <br /> <br />under conditional decrees. Actually, several times this volume of <br /> <br />water is included in existing conditional decrees. Much of this <br /> <br />water is irrevocably committed and cannot be retrieved for use by <br /> <br />the oil shale industry. <br />The Colorado state government exercises little or no con- <br /> <br />trol over the many conditional decrees which have been awarded to <br /> <br />individuals, to private companies and to municipalities. However, <br /> <br />the state does have some degree of control over the exercise of those <br /> <br />conditional decrees awarded for federal reclamation projects. In <br /> <br />this latter category, there are seven authorized reclamation proj- <br /> <br />ects in western Colorado which have not yet been constructed. Both <br /> <br />the federal government and the other states of the basin recognize <br /> <br />the validity of the conditional water decrees awarded to these proj- <br /> <br />ects. The total annual depletion for these seven projects is <br /> <br />-12- <br /> <br />0<08 <br />