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0') o::t' 0:> ....., The project would make an average of 117,200 acre-feet of water available annually at the various points of diversion. It is estimated that the project would deplete the flow of the Colorado River by an average of 46,700 acre-feet of water annually. Of this total depletion, 28,100 acre-feet would be chargeable to irrigation, 18,200 acre-feet to municipal and industrial uses, and 400 acre-feet to miscellaneous purposes. .-' The total cost of the project, based upon January 1968 prices, is estimated at $48,167,000. Total annual benefits are estimated at $2,906,100. The benefit-cost ratio, based upon a period of one hundred years and an interest rate of 3.25 percent, is 1.46 to 1. The benefit-cost ratio is therefore quite favor- able. However, if a discount rate of 4-5/8 percent is applied to the project as is now being proposed, then the benefit-cost ratio would show a material decrease. Virtually all of the municipal and industrial water uses contemplated by the project are predicated upon the future develop- ment of the tremendous oil shale reserves in the White River area, and more particularly in the Piceance Basin. Construction of the project as now planned would be contingent upon assurances that the municipal and industrial allocation cost of $17,103,000 would be repaid with interest. Depending upon future events, it might be desirable that the project be constructed in stages so as to accommo- date the irrigation needs first and the M & I needs as they occur. The Yellow Jacket Conservancy District concurs in the plan of development with one significant exception. This exception goes to page 42 of the report which contains a paragraph as follows: "In order to minimize losses to big-game hunting, estimated at $6,500 annually, 14,000 acres of private land in the Oak Ridge area located between the White River on the south and the upper section of the potential Josephine Basin Canal on the north would be acquired and developed along with 2,800 acres of adjacent public domain. The lands would be made available to the Colorado Division of Game, Fish and Parks for administration as big-game range." The cost of obtaining the 14,000 acres of private land above referred to is estimated at $900,000. This cost would be charged to the project to be repaid by the water users. Both the Yellow Jacket Water Conservancy District and the residents of the area take considerable exception to this part of the project plans. Memo -2- September 3, 1970