WSP07510 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

ill"?" 3 was then allocated to other uses: transportation out of the basin by railroads or slurry pipeline, and coal gasification. In the third and fourth alternatives, plans for proposed expansions of the Hayden and Craig powerplants, doubling the capacity that is existing or being constructed, were assumed to be completed, with the remaining coal production be- ing used as listed in table 1. The fifth and sixth alternatives assumed that part or all of the proposed 6,400-megawatt Oak Creek coal-fired power-generation facility might be constructed by 1990 (Oak Creek Power Co., 1976). These alter- natives assumed a 1990 coal-production rate of more than 30 million tons (27 million t), which would leave sufficient coal for only one coal- gasification plant for alternative 6, with the remainder being transported out of the basin. A seventh alternative was included to provide a less- than-projected rate of development (table 1). The rate of future Federal coal leasing, as well as other factors, will affect the extent to which the alter- natives described are realistic for determining the types and range of water-resources impacts. Guided by the coal-resource development alter- natives in table 1. specific studies were conducted to assess the implications of discharged waste residuals and water use that might result from each alternative. Interactions between economic and environmental-control factors, water use, and de- mand for various forms of energy were considered in several of these analyses. The studies were designed to answer questions such as the following: (1) What increases in popula- tion and changes in the basin economy are ex- pected? (2) What are some of the water-use ramifications of this development (in terms of both withdrawals and consumption)? (3) Are these pro- jections in conflict with existing water-use patterns in the basin? (4) What residual wastes will be dis. charged that may adversely affect the environment in general and the basin'8 water resources in par- ticular? (5) Is enough water available, in either a physical or institutional sense, for projected uses in the basin? (6) How will the water resources change over time, in terms of water supply or water-quality characteristics? and (7) Should some limits be im- posed to either the extent or the form of energy- resource or related economic development? Although complete answers to these questions were not provided in every instance, the questions themselves give some indication of the direction and scope of the studies addressed by the Yampa River basin assessment and summarized by this report. The assessment approaches were developed around a central theme of determining several of the possible environmental implications of the an- ticipated regional economic growth stimulated by accelerated mining of coaL Study results also in- dicate future information needs using physical- based data, particularly related to regional water resources. With this information, planners and managers should be able to more effectively use the available natural resources in the region, given stated or implied resource-development and en- vironmental goals. LEGAL AS.PECTS OF WATER- RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT By WALTER J. KNUDSEN. Jr.' and JERIS A. DANIELSON' There is much concern regarding the availability of water in the Yampa River basin for energy- resource development. The supply of water for various specified uses is a function of its physical presence; its legal availability as dictated by inter- state compacta, court decrees, and judicial con- straints; and its economic value. Several factors af- fecting the legal availability of water in this region. from the standpoint of water law and securing and transferring water rights in Colorado, are described by Knudsen and Danielson (1977). "First in time, first in right" is the popular phrase used to describe the doctrine of prior ap- propriation as it applies to water. particularly in the Yampa River basin. The western United States acquired the doctrine of prior appropriation from Spain via Mexico. Implementation of the doctrine initially involved only the principal uses of surface waters. As surface waters have become almost com- pletely appropriated in many parts of the West, similar institutional controls were applied to ground-water resources. Most concerns during the next 15 years in the Yampa River basin involve in- creasing water demands and the extent to which surface waters physically and institutionally will be available to meet these demands. Longer term concerns involve availability and quality of ground water. The withdrawal of ground water has not yet 'Colorado Department of Natural RelIourcea, Di...i~ion of Water Resources, Office of the State Engineer. 7