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water and that amount is expected to increase as 13 unsettled tribal claims are resolved. “In many cases, these rights are senior to other uses,” the Basin Study said. “Terefore, representing these rights and the associated demand is a critical com- ponent to assessing future water demand in the Colorado River Basin. An ad- ditional component of future demand is an assessment of demands by tribes that have unquantified rights or claims.” Speaking before a Senate commit-


tee in May, Deputy Interior Secretary Michael Connor noted that “because most reservations were established prior to the settlement of the West by non-Indians, even very senior non- Indian water rights are often junior in priority to Indian water rights,” and that “neighboring non-Indian interests and communities have come to rely over the course of decades on a water supply for which Indians have senior water rights.” Reclamation is working with the


Ten Tribes Partnership on the Colo- rado River Basin Ten Tribes Partnership Tribal Water Study, which is expected in December 2015. Te study will assess water supplies, water use and projected demand for the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe, Cocopah Indian Community, Colorado River Indian Tribes, Fort Mojave Indian Tribe, Jicarilla Apache Nation, Navajo Nation, Quechan Indian Tribe, Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Reservation and Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.


While more than 16 million acre-feet of water is allocated for urban, indus- trial and agricultural use, only about 15 million acre-feet of rainfall and snow- melt averaged during the past 30 years arrives into the river system each year, an amount that has been declining because of drought. In 2013, federal, state and local public agency representatives began a consultative process aimed at produc- ing practical and viable solutions to


“I do not think that water should or will be involuntarily taken from agriculture.”


– Reagan Waskom, Colorado Water Institute


future management of the river. Tree workgroups examined municipal and industrial conservation and water reuse, agricultural conservation, productivity and water transfers, and environmental and recreational flows. Te Moving Forward program is an effort by the Department of the Interior and stake- holders throughout the Basin. Te Moving Forward effort looks at forging a long-term course of action in “an over-allocated and highly variable system” with the understanding that “It is impossible to know the precise trajec- tory of future water supply and demand or how those trajectories may impact the reliability of the Colorado River and its tributaries to meet Basin needs.” “It’s taking the areas that the Basin


Study showed where we really should focus and seeing if we can find consen- sus solutions,” said Carly Jerla, project manager with Reclamation, which is funding the study along with the Basin states.


Te Basin Study said, among other things, that correcting the imbalance may mean agricultural water conserva- tion “at significantly higher levels” than presently seen. Furthermore, the Study noted that an additional water savings of 1 million acre-feet of water a year may be possible by 2060 through conser- vation, more efficient water use and fallowing. Getting that savings “would be a con- siderable task” because of the gains that have already been made, the Moving Forward report says. Its authors noted that per-acre water use has remained “relatively constant” in the Basin while agricultural productivity has grown


25 percent that past 30 years. Honing water use on the farm “may not result in consumptive use reduction if the water saved is used to increase productivity or by a downstream user.” Agriculture uses the majority of


developed Colorado River water and holds some of the most senior water rights. Its advocates believe that it should not be asked to unfairly shoulder the burden of addressing the supply/ demand imbalance.


“I do not think that water should or will be involuntarily taken from agriculture,” said Reagan Waskom, director of the Colorado Water Institute at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. “I believe the best approach is to develop market-based mechanisms and incentives to encourage produc- ers to conserve water through various approaches and allow that water to be leased on spot markets or sold on robust interstate markets. Tis is going to take significant institutional change and capacity at all levels. We need to start working on this now in a planned way that can allow for experimentation and adaptation, as it will take time to put this in place.” Waskom is part of the Colorado


River Research Group, which calls itself “an independent, scientific voice for the future of the Colorado River.” Its May 2015 paper, “Te Case for


Now Available! 2013 Colorado


River Symposium


Proceedings Tis 136-page book can be ordered on-line at www.watereducation.org under the Publications and Products tab.


Summer 2015 • River Report • Colorado River Project • 3


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