Lower Colorado Region Comprehensive Framework Study: Main Report 1971

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The apparent minimum impact on the Region's economy would occur if the reduction in water usage were applied to the agricultural sectors. This analysis, considering factors of regional economic efficiency, provides only one of several studies needed to assist the Region in making future choices in the utilization of its water resources. Another important consideration in this time of social unrest is that a portion of the labor force in the agricultural sectors is unskilled and has but little potential for retraining. Whether the Region's interests are best served by accepting the trend toward reduction of unskilled job opportunities and the resultant social impacts would need to be con- sidered. Some additional factors which would occur because of a reduced water supply and which need to be analyzed are: the effect on local and state tax base of retiring productive lands, the effect on rural com- munities of reducing their economic base and employment opportunities, the inevitable further population shift from rural to urban centers and the resultant increase in urban social problems, the effect on farm and irrigation district operations and revenue, loss of both private and public capital improvements, the increased demands for social services in primarily rural counties, and the effect on the national food and fiber requirements. It is very unlikely that major reductions in water usage in selec- tive agricultural sectors could be achieved directly by regional choice because legal and institutional constraints, especially in the field of water rights, would preclude such a direct transfer of water usage. Without a water importation program, such a reduction could occur naturally due to economic pressures, or due to exhaustion of the ground- water resources. In this event, ground-water pumping would continue until the dropping water level made further operations uneconomical for some agricultural uses, or until the source was exhausted.