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<br />
<br />Near Aspen ..
<br />The $106.5 million West Divide Proj(>Ct.
<br />which would take water from the Crystal
<br />River near Aspen, Colo., \iIIa~ originally
<br />plann{'d to deliver 77,500 acre-feel c.r
<br />waief into tht' Colorado River for antIcI-
<br />pated oil shale development near DeBe-
<br />que. Colo. .
<br />Thl! W&lo:r. ac':u,.jin;; to !"l~chcr. c~-:.,.
<br />support a 34\1,000 barrel.a-day oil shale In.
<br />dustry. ." R d'
<br />In addition. water In the exlstmg ue 1
<br />Reservoir, constructed al 11 cost of $1~,8
<br />million, and Green Mountain ~~servolr.
<br />ronstrllctedatacostor$..1.25mllhon. has
<br />b!..'('n savt'd by the state to meet oil shale
<br />needs aloni': the- Colorado River. Sparks
<br />said morl' than 125.000 acre.feet has bet'n
<br />rCS('fved there. ..
<br />MorE' projects alonl': thE' Colorado Rlvrf
<br />are on the drawing boards. An togethf'f
<br />
<br />thE' projects to supply an oil shall' in-
<br />dustry on the main stem or lhe Colorado
<br />'-ould provide in the neJghborhood of
<br />435.000 acrt".fect of water, according to
<br />the water experts.
<br />The proposf'd Redchff Project, which
<br />Fischer's group is seekinjt a Federal
<br />Power Commission (FPC) permit to con.
<br />struct, would prOVide ~.042 acre.feet, a}l
<br />of it optioned bv two hrms WIth OIl shale
<br />inlerests, Exxon Corp. and the Colony De.
<br />vdopment Operation. .
<br />i"ischer said t......o more proJects, Azure
<br />Reservoir on the Colorado Ri\'er below
<br />Kremmlinjt and Una Reservoir at Roan
<br />f~ri'1;'k ",,:or o.-R"'l111" iI~~ heing studi..<i
<br />Figures on the amount of water each
<br />might supply haven't bt.'Cn fully computed,
<br />he said. but he indicated they could total
<br />asmuchasl65,OOOacre-fect.
<br />Oil companies already have either .filrd
<br />for water rights or have condItIonal
<br />decrees for 1.1 million acre-feel of I\'aler
<br />that is presently ust'd for irrigation. How.
<br />ever lhev mav only be permitted to eM-
<br />sumpliveiy u~ only 10 per cent of that
<br />amount because of w'ater laws.
<br />Depletion Right .
<br />Mcording to the 011 shale ennrnnmrntal
<br />impact statt'ment. Colorado has the _fight
<br />.. to deplete the Colorado RlI'er b)' 2.9/0,000
<br />acr..-fect a Vf'ar, Curr",nt water uses
<br />deplete the rh'er and its tributilries in
<br />western Colorado by 1.788,000 acre-fect a
<br />}'ear. Authorized projects would deplete
<br />the river bvan addilional 935,000 acre-feet
<br />, .
<br />annually.
<br />Those figures mean that if alllhe exist-
<br />\ng water uses were to go unchanged aod
<br />\\1' authorized projects built, Colorado ha~
<br />~ly another 233,000 acre-f..et of water
<br />~pletions allowrd annually in the Colora.
<br />I Ri\'er Basin. includmg the San Juan
<br />\'cr, lhe Gunnison River, lhe White
<br />ver and the Yampa River.
<br />'\0 projects lire now aUlhorizt'd. for {'lln-
<br />'uctlon in lhe White Ri\'er Basm when'
<br />, ('HI ~hale developmt'nt allrnllon has
<br />, ftt~ "
<br />-)n the Whit!' Riiver SIde of 011 sh<lll"
<br />- unlry, the proposffi Flattops Resen'oir
<br />-schrr's group is barkinf:; coold prOVIde
<br />-. --
<br />
<br />85,000 acre-fect of storage, but its annual
<br />yield is unknown. Fischer said.
<br />The proposed Bureau of Reclamation
<br />Veliow J<lcket Project could providl':
<br />101000 at're-feel of water from three res-
<br />en:oirs. The proposed $54 million project
<br />is opposf'<l by lhe Colorado Division of
<br />Wildlife because it would rob lhl' d~r and
<br />elk herds of the Flattops area of critical
<br />winter range.
<br />One acre-foot of wilter provided annual.
<br />Iy to an oil shale plant is enough water to
<br />allo..... productIon of between 2.;' and 4.2
<br />I
<br />
<br />barrels or shale oil a day, according to
<br />expert!.
<br />Some like lhe Environmental Proter-
<br />tion Agency tEPA) hal'e maint.aint"d It
<br />.....ill take 413,000 acre-feet of water annual-
<br />I\' to support a one million-barrel-a-day
<br />shale oil industry.
<br />Others, like Sparks. put thl! watrf
<br />requirements for that size indUStry lowe~_
<br />Sparks says 250,000 acre.feet a year B
<br />required.
<br />Whatevrr figure pro\'es to b, correct.
<br />Continued on page 33,
<br />
<br />Shale Water Scramble Starts
<br />
<br />Con~nu~d from poge 31. ricult~e Yt'arbook, the. Iwo rigation consumes up to 1.51 Original estimates of ground
<br />.there IS ~lde agreement that countle! had crop productIon of acre-feet of water, making wa. wate und r oot th k b
<br />It would take more than a mil- $6 million in 1971, with hay from Ie! right! existing tn the area res e mar ,.
<br />Iion-barrels-a.da}' industry to irrigalt'd meadows acrounling a sourt'e of up to 180,000 addi. factor of ll}, ,
<br />begin dipping into agricultural for $5-2 million of the crop In- bonal acre-feet of water for oil The U.S. GeologIcal SurYey
<br />and other existing water uses rome. shale development (\,,'SGS) sa}'~ there i.! 10. times
<br />to maet shale oil production In 1972, the yearbook stated, Assuming that Sparks Is cor. more water. In the aquafers u-
<br />needs. lht>re were 96.000 cattle, 2,150 rect in staling that one acre- soclateorl With. the ahale."thaa
<br />But when the oil shale de- hogs and pigs and 87,000 stock foot would produce U barrels preVIOusly estimated.
<br />velopt'n ~tart dippinR into the sheep in the counties to utilize of oil a day annually, the es- One USGS official said the
<br />ail'ricultural waler barrel. tht're the hay production. timatt>d Irrigation water would aqua/en are able to provide ,for
<br />will bf! profoond ronSl'Quenres According to tbe U. S. Soil allow add i t Ion a 1 Industry an oil shale tndustry fOf... 10
<br />far the fanners and rancher! in Conservation Servic-e, there growth of more than 750,000 years after startup before fUr.
<br />Rio Blanco and Garfield Coun- were 12.1,500 acres under lrriga- barrels a day. face waters will nt'ed to be hn-
<br />ties-where Colorado oil shale lion in 1967 in the counties_ What may come to the rescue pounded and moved to th.
<br />development would be fOC\Jsed. A Colorndo water official esU. Is ground watef in the Piceance I shale lands for oU production
<br />According to the Coloraoo Ag- mat.ed lhat eacb acre under ir- Basin. purpost'll.
<br />
<br />0016
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