| Abstract: | ABSTRACT: Problems of water quality and quantity are critical to development of the energy resources of the Western U. S. Based on a number of independent measures, the Upper Colorado River Basin will experience severe water availability problems in a few decades if projected energy and agricultural development occurs. Given the impending collision between the competing interests of various Western water users, water resource management and conservation deserves the utmost attention. Substantial opportunities for conservation exist in energy and agricultural development. Selection of both conversion and cooling technologies and careful siting decisions can sharply reduce the water requirements of energy development. Agricultural water conservation strategies include improving irrigation and cultivation practices, removing phreatophytes, removing marginal lands from production, and changing crop patterns. In order to accomplish significant conservation, however, there must be changes in those aspects of Western water law that remove conservation incentives from the water use system. |
