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<br />taining it has a <br />.~ <br />reCognlz~ that <br /> <br />and pressures to move existing rights to more productive, more efficient <br /> <br />crude but appealing logic. <br /> <br />demands for consumptive use and by physically re- . <br />) <br />lnfurmed leaders "'"Erea~'ing-J:y-a-n6' <br /> <br />Basin er\titlement with new <br /> <br />this solution ignores the need to optilDize the use of water <br /> <br />20 <br />uses_ <br /> <br />Damming Upper Basin streams to the maximum extent possible ~ld provide <br />/I <br /> <br />insurance against the consequences of major drought. Yet further investment <br /> <br />(doubtless of public money) before Upper Basin water demands are real is <br /> <br />perhaps best justified by storage benefits to the overdeveloped Lower Basin. <br /> <br />The ostensible purpose of such projects would be to give Upper Basin states <br /> <br />the means to expand their future uses while satisfying their compact obliga- <br /> <br />tion to the Lower Basin. But until the new uses develop, the Lower Basin has <br /> <br />a right under the compact to demand all the water it needs for current uses. <br /> <br />Moreover, construction of new storage facilities is limited by the paucity of <br /> <br />feasible sites. Some sites have been ruled out because of the destructive <br /> <br />21 <br />effects that dam building would have on natural assets. Even the most <br /> <br />attractive remaining projects, have been stalled because they are difficult to <br /> <br />justify economically. <br /> <br />Unless there are significant unexplored sites for storage facilities--an <br /> <br />unlikely possibility--only a handful of new projects will be built in the <br /> <br />Upper Basin. Without promise of substantial economic benefits. privare enter- <br />v-I..4 ""1 ~ q <br />prise will not undertake a project. In an era of freer access to ~ federal <br />yo. v <br />" <br />" pork barrel, a state's grandiose plans for a pet water storage project may <br /> <br />have had a chance for acceptance without much scrutiny of the economics. That <br /> <br />era is surely in decline, if not dead. Federal funding is almost certain to <br /> <br />depend to Some degree on economic justification. Of course an Upper Basin <br /> <br />state may itself decide to finance a project having little immediate utility <br /> <br />- ~ - <br />