Issues Paper, Central Utah Project

Page 128

JJb/ 66 per year indefinitely into the future! This would certainly stabilize those family farms. The BR argues that, counting supplemental water recipi­ents, 3500 farms will receive some CUP water. Each of these 3500 farms* could receive $6943 per year indefinitely into the future. This too would stabilize all of those farms and have' a major stimulating effect on the businesses and towns which support the farms. If the irrigation water, as we have argued above is worth only $15 per acre-foot, CUP offers irrigation benefits of $3,112,500, while this trust account offers certain, perpetual benefits almost eight times as large with none of the environmental or legal (Indian) or opportunity (displaced agriculture elsewhere) costs . However, income supplements may be rejected as politi­cally infeasible "handouts." It may be that the subsidies have to be hidden and tied to "meritorious" work before they are politically acceptable. 2. Some of the $245,607,000 intended to be invested in the provision of M§I water could be invested in a detailed and thorough analysis of the dynamics of the ground-water aquifers in the Jordan Valley and their interaction with surface water supplies. With this information an integrated development of ground and surface water would be possible which would maximize the water yield at minimal secondary costs *This figure was 2040 in their March 11, 1977 document and 3,500 in their March 21, 1977 document.