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Wastewater treatment plant. Photo courtesy of American Water Works Association. Changing Beneficial Uses of Water There is a change in the philosophy of what constitutes a beneficial use which has occurred since 1860. As the United States has developed, in addition to ranching and agriculture, Colorado now has become a national asset, not only as an educational and technical center, but also as a recreational center. Some of the best values in Colorado are to be found in its high mountains, its forests, its streams. There is a change in the philosophy of what constitutes a beneficial use which has occurred since 1860. The diversion of water is totally unnecessary for the preservation of its forests except for the low value Blue Spruce, which has to have its feet wet. Other evergreens obtain all their water nourishment from their needles. How- ever, these forests can provide substantial storage where the trees are open enough so that they act as a windbreak to drop blowing snow into open spaces where it can reach the natural watercourses. Under a law passed by the United States Congress, the national forests are to be maintained for the purpose of providing a continuous supply of water and timber. 16 U.S.C.A. Section 475 (1985). These two objectives are consistent because with timber cutting which provides open spaces for precipitation to fall and the timbered areas to impede the flow of air so that the snow and rain will get to the earth, both timber and water are supplied. This is why there should be no wilderness areas where there are forests because they are unproductive and inaccessible for recrea- tion to about 98% of the American public. Cutting trees to create ski slopes creates open spaces where snow can fall and also creates an economic benefit to the state. Ski areas require a domestic supply of water, which means that a substantial amount of high-altitude water needs to be retained to sustain the ski industry. Another area of recreation is river rafting and kayaking. A very early statute permitted the floating of logs on our streams. With modern transportation, this statute can be repealed as unnecessary. On the other hand, riverrafting and kayaking have become a major sport and a major economic benefitto Colorado. The diversion Of water out of the streams so as to diminish their flow impairs this kind of use. Such a use, at the beginning of Colorado, would have been un- thought of. It would not have been considered beneficial. Beneficial use must necessarily mean utility forthe needs of mankind. Mankind today does want river rafting, and conse- quently the maintenance of streams for this sort of use has become a beneficial use which was not in existence at the time Colorado water law was first envisioned. Colorado law does not yet adequately meet this problem, particularly in that it attempts to give the state of Colorado the sole right to appropriate water for this beneficial use, although the constitution clearly says that the right to appropriate water for beneficial use shall never be denied to anyone. Interstate Water Allocations Because Colorado is at the high point in the Northern Hemisphere of the range of mountains that runs from the south to the north throughout the Western Hemisphere, waters from its natural water courses flow out of the state and into other states. Broadly speaking, legal rights with respect to the waters of these interstate streams are treated the same as waters moving from one fully sovereign state to another. In Europe, water moves in international streams from one nation to another. Each of these nations is sovereign. The same thing is true of the states of the United States except to the extent that they have given up a portion of their sover- eignty to the Union. The basic law of interstate streams in the United States as it affects relations between various states is the same as the law of international streams between fully sovereign nations. There are many refinements but, basically, each sover- eign has the rightto an equitable apportionment of the waters of an interstate stream. The equity is based on preservation of the existing civilization. This requires a consideration of such matters as maintenance of commerce and of water quality. The international law protecting commerce is strongly influenced by the commerce clause of the United States Constitution, as recently illustrated in the case of Sporhase v. Nebraska, 458 U.S. 941 (1982) in a matter which is not directly within the experience of the writer. Allocations of the Colorado River Well within the immediate experience of the writer, how- ever, is the Colorado RiverCompact and the Upper Colorado River Compact. The operation of the terms of the Colorado River Compact should be of great concern to the states of the Upper Basin. The Lower Basin states of the Colorado River Drainage Basin are endeavoring to create a perception that, aside from the Mexican commitment, the states of the Upper Basin must supply them with 7-1/2 million acre-feet of water from the 9