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~ . . 3001 - 5 - "(e) The states of the upper division shall not withhold water and the states of the lower division shall not require the delivery of water which cannot reasonably be applied to domestic and agricultural uses." Even after full develop~ent of the Colorado River has been mace, it is very doubtful v1hether the Loner Basin ,"-,ould have a lecitimate complaint if there passed out of an Upper B~sin state into a state nhich is not a Colorado River 3asin State return flovr resulting from the use of Colorado River water. Return flm7 is a natural phenomenon incident to the use of water for irri- gation. A certain amount of water must be passed out of an irrigated area in order to maintain the salt balance. Otjen7ise the lands within the area '.'Tould sradually deteriorate. That part of the return flOir ,'rhich is passed out of an area to maintain the salt balance can be considered a beneficial use of water. At the present time not much more than enough water is passing out of the South Platte River basin properly to maintain the ?alt balance in the Colorado portion of the basin. This bein-g the case, 50:::2 increment of imported water must also pass out of the basin to keen the b~l,~ce maintained. Because of the above facts, in my opinion, there vQll' never be the necessity for a reservoir to be constructed in Colorado to prevent a return flow from imported Colorado River w~ter from reaching non-Golorado River Basin States. This is different from opinions that I have expressed in the past. The reason for my changed position is apparent from the facts outlined above. Under ultimate cc,,;'_~ions of development, return flO'lr from Colorado River uses VQll pass o~t of the Lower Basin into Mexico. Although it is true that such water u~der the Mexican Water Treaty will be utilized to fulfill a part of the United States' obligation to deliver vmter to Mexico, nevertheless the reason for the return flO'lr is not the provision of the Treaty. The reason is that return flow is a natural phenomenon incident to irrigation and that a certain amount must be passed out of the LO'Irer Basin to maintain the salt balance. For example the Bureau of Recla~ation estimates that of the 1,100,000 acre-feet of nater which is proposed to be diverted from Colorado River to Central Arizona, 300,000 acre-foet must be passed out of the basin as return flov, to forestall further dote~ioration of some of the Central Valley lands of Arizona by salt accumulations. This nateI' nill go to Ilenco, and would Co to l.iexico and be available for her USe in spite of the Inexican Water Treaty. :;:n my opinion the return flevr passinG out of the Lower Basin is no different fron tl:e retur;l flmv which may pass out of Upper Colorado River Basin States to states located outside of the basin. I am not cOllipetent to com~ent on the incidental fish and wild life and recreatio:1 benefits clai''led for the llarrcwrs Reservoir. I h.s."~ little knowledge of such matters. It is ~y conclt;sion that there is no great urgency for a reservoir such as the NarrOV'Ts. As a matter of fact, the provision of sach a reservoir might be somewhat premature. The best use that can be made of South Platte River water, including a part of Colorado-Big Thompson water, will