FUTURE NEEDS FOR DEVELOPMENT 255 



turn" or "waste" water, with the result that in many western 

 states such water may be appropriated, although the original 

 user is generally under no obligation to continue the wasteful 

 practices. 



The statutes and court decisions regarding water that has 

 been used have been developed to deal with a host of separate 

 problems; there is great need for recognition and comprehen- 

 sive analysis of the relationships of these problems of disposal 

 to each other and to the problem of water use and water rights. 

 For the most part little discrimination has yet been made by 

 the public in discussing water, although all agree that it should 

 be "usable." It is conceivable that water users will one day 

 demand as their right not only a specified number of gallons 

 of liquid but water with certain specified requirements as to 

 chemical and physical quality. Any right to water of specific 

 qualities would logically involve also an obligation to dis- 

 charge unconsumed water meeting certain requirements as to 

 quality. 



RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN COST OF OBTAINING THE 



water. A water right is of no value if the water can be obtained 

 only at prohibitive cost. For certain regions economic condi- 

 tions may be such that the utilization of the water resources 

 must be considerably less than the full potential. As stated by 

 Hutchins: 20 



The economic feasibility is as important as engineering feasi- 

 bility. The ground-water supply in a given case might be adequate 

 for irrigation of all overlying land if lifted 400 feet, but the value 

 of crops which it is possible to produce on that land may be far too 

 low to justify the cost of pumping with such a lift. Economic 

 feasibility in that area may depend upon the use of only the water 

 available at less depths. 



Wherever it is economically feasible to develop a certain 

 quantity of water for use in a specified area, it is commonly 

 true that the first water appropriated is the most accessible 

 and least expensive, and as more water is developed the cost 



20 Hutchins, op. cit., p. 177. 



