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"aw The Upper Colorado'- River Compact of 1948 (Col~rado Revised Statutes, 1973, Art. 37-62), ap- portions the amount of water allocated to the Up- per Basin States (Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona. and New Mexico) and also dictates the procedure to be used by the Upper Basin States to meet a demand for water by the Lower Basin States. Stipulations of this compact directly af- fecting the Yampa River basin involve the minimum release of water from the Yampa River near Maybell, Colo. (fig. 1), and the distribution of irrigation diversions of certain tributaries of the Little Snake River along the Colorado-Wyoming State line (Knudsen and Danielaon, 1977). On-stream reservoir operations, which may in- crease in the Yampa River basin, constitute a special case of water administration and manage- ment. This is partly due to the need to ensure that illegal storage of water does not occur, The criteria used to determine the reservoir outflow required to fulfill downstream senior water rights vary in ac- cordance with local conditions and customs. The management of such stored water needs to be accomplished without jeopardizing senior water rights. Numerous proposed reservoir projects in the Yampa River basin have been designed not only to appropriate additional waters of the Yampa River basin but also to rearrange, to some degree, the existing water-use patterns (Steele and others, 1979). Future water-development projects will be dependent on factors such as future land-use pat- terns in the area and the availability of water. The Yampa River basin and adjacent areas have an abundance of energy resources that will require substantial amounts of water for development (Holland, 1975; Van Zandt, 1975; Steele, 1976). If no unappropriated water is available following the im pie mentation of the major proposed reservoirs mentioned above, future development may depend upon the acquisition of existing surface-water rights to meet anticipated water demands or on the development of ground-water resources. Changes in use and changes in points of diversion for water rights are granted by the courts, and each case is considered individually. It is difficult to give definitive guidelines for forecasting future actions by the courts in these matters. However, in any ac- tions, adverse effects upon existing water rights- junior or senior-are evaluated carefully by all affected parties. In the Upper Colorado River Basin, some water traditionally used for irrigation is being transferred to industrial use through purchase and the ap- propriate judicial procedures (Colorado Depart- ment of Natural Resources, 1980). The circum- stances surrounding such transfers vary from case to case. Irrigation is a seasonal use of water; an in- dustry commonly requires a year-round use of a fixed amount of water. There is a difference in the consumptive uses of irrigation versus industry; that is, that portion of a water withdrawal that is totally consumed by the beneficial use and not. returned to the river system. Generally, such transfers in water use are dependent on the degree of injury to vested rights, the historic diversion of the right to be transferred, consumptive use of the water, and other factors the water court or affected parties may introduce in the adjudication in a particular case. With increased coal-resource and associated economic development, the competition for water in the basin is becoming greater and greater. In the event certain streams of the Yampa River basin become depleted to the point where Colorado or Wyoming can no longer meet their interstate- compact commitments in the Upper Colorado River Basin, the doctrine of prior appropriation will determine which junior decrees are to be denied water in order to fulfill these commitments. This could well involve junior decrees adjudicated to in- dustrial companies for energy development or for allocating minimum flows to protect aquatic life, In summary, water in the Yampa River basin is allocated by a combin!ltion of constitutionally recognized rights, State statutes. water-rights decrees, administrative practice, and case law as developed through litigation. In Colorado, the State Engineer administers the water of the State in accordance with water decrees adjudicated by the courts of the State. In Wyoming, the State Engineer haa a direct role in administration of water rights. These factors, plus other changes to the physical system due to the addition or deple- tion of water, undoubtedly will interact with ex- isting water rights and will affect subsequent use of water in the Yampa River basin. Physical-based water-resource studies need to consider these in- stitutional factors. No mention has been made up to this point of the numerous pieces of Federal water-pollution-control legislation having general or specific application to 9