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Show PART III FUTURE DEMANDS Table 27 - Projected Municipal and Industrial Water Supply Requirements for Service Areas Mesa County, Colorado San Juan County, New Mexico Withdrawals Withdrawals Year Population 1/ (A.F) Population (A.F.) 1965 54,400 13,700 46,600 6,900 1980 57,200 20,000 65,000 14,000 2000 71,000 31,000 95,000 25,000 2020 87,500 48,000 125,000 40,000 1/ Provided by Economics Workgroup, Upper Colorado Region Quality Considerations The sources of most municipal water supplies in the Region are in the headwaters of streams where the water quality is generally excellent. Future water quality problems, therefore, are expected to be minimal. There are localized areas, however, where water quality may inhibit a beneficial use. For example, some areas in the Upper Main Stem have groundwater which contains a higher salt content than tolerable for human or livestock consumption. Also, seasonal thundershowers cause localized turbidity problems for some domestic supplies. Means of Meeting the Needs Future municipal and industrial needs including livestock, will be met by developing additional surface and limited groundwater supplies and by some conversion of irrigation water. This conclusion is supported by the fact that 2020 depletions (169,000 A.F.) will be less than 3 percent of the total water requirements (6.5 million A.F.) projected for the Region, and that the Region has surface water physically available to meet its needs. To provide adequate stockwater for proper range management, 16,000 stockwater developments are estimated to be needed by 2020, with evapora- tion loses increasing from about 24,000 acre-feet in 1965 to 41,400 acre- feet in 2020. (See Table 23). Livestock water use by 2020 is estimated to be less than one percent: of the total projected water use (6.5 million A.F.) in the Upper Colorado Region. 41 |