OCR Text |
Show what might be the expected direct employment effect of such an allocation decision?" Allocating this amount of water to the Wasatch Front had the direct employment effect of 6,590 jobs. Allocating it to the Uinta Basin resulted in a employment effect of 905 jobs and allocating it to all other portions of the State, an employment effect of 1,255 jobs. As now contemplated, the increased Jnit water supply ( at point of use) would amount to 466,000 acre- feet annually, including both low quality industrial water and irrigation water. This water would be allocated as follows: Uinta Basin - 21,400 acre- feet; Bonieville Basin - 416,300 acre- feet; and Sevier River Basin - 28,300 acre- feet. Irrigation water is retained in this comparative relationship because it was used in the above- referenced study.*" However, it accounts for only about 2 percent of the total employment. Whether it is included or excluded, it is negligible in the total employment picture. Applying the factors of the University . study would result in average annual employment opportunities for about 89,000 people. The annual personal income of this employment would amount to approximately $ 598 million based on the average wage of $ 6,720 for the State in 1971." According to a study prepared for the National Water Commission, •**• water development and regional economic growth are not necessarily connected. Ample water supplies for agriculture and/ or municipal- industrial use, the existence of water- based recreational resources, the availability of low- cost hydroelectric power, etc., do not provida, in and of themselves, a sufficient condition for economic growth. Furthermore, in some situations they may not even be necessary conditions for such growth to occur. The preconditions for regional economic growth are multifaceted and complex. Accessibility to major markets, availability of quality labor supply, transportation costs and alternatives, and climate all play a role. So do certain types of water resources, but they tend to play a secondary role. In the absence of other conditions for growth, it is unlikely that water investment would have more than a negligible impact on the rate or pattern of growth. That ample water supply may not, under certain conditions, be necessary for growth is indicated by the rapid rate of economic growth in certain so called " water short" areas of the west and 387 |