ABSTRACT
Number of studies conducted since 1976 have examined the air quality impact of oil shale. At first glance, these reports appear to be enormously contradictory: some say there can be essentially no oil shale development while others predict a substantial industry can be built. A closer examination of these reports, however, suggests other conclusions. Early estimates, based on whatever information was available, tend to be conservative. The issue of water availability for oil shale development in Colorado is a complex one because it is a function of so many different parameters. To compound the issue even further, as important as the purely physical aspects of water availability are constraints imposed by the institutions governing the allocation, storage, and distribution of water resources. Depletion by irrigated agriculture in the State of Colorado is approximately 1,200,000 acre-feet per year, out of total State of Colorado depletions of 1,800,000 acre-feet per year from the Upper Colorado River.
