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OuJ3'33 sources, has been growing rapidly, the rate of development of new federal reclamation projects has dropped. However, substantial expansion of irri- gated acreage is contemplated, using water from existing storage for which distribution systems are as yet unfinished, and both private development and federal projects are prospective uses for such water. Irrigable acreage in the Upper Missouri Basin is well in excess of that which could be irrigated with available water. Limited water sup- plies and economic constraints, rather than the availability of irrigable land, limit the expansion of irrigation in the region. Water use in irrigation creates important impacts upon fish and wildlife through 1) the amount of water withdrawn (2.4 acre feet annually per acre irrigated in the Yellowstone Basin, for example [U. S. Department' of the Interior, 1975]1); 2) the fact that 60-BO% of the water so used is consumed (Utah State University Foundation, 1971)2; and, 3) the fact that agricultural return flows normally contain salts leached from the soil. Irrigation, presently by far the major water use in the region, carries potential for both further expansion and increased impacts upon fish and wildlife resources. Urban Growth Urban growth has become an increasingly important element in water consumption patterns in the Western states. Urban water use is second--a distant second, to be sure--only to irrigation in consumptive volume. Urban water use averages about 176 and 190 gallons per day per capita in Omaha and Denver respectively (Howe, et al., 1971).3 These figures include domestic, cOllll1ercial, industrial, and public uses, in varying proportions. In the region as a whole, urban water use accounts for about 4% of water withdrawals and a similar percentage of total consumptive water use, as shown in Figures 2 and 3. On the average, urban water use throughout the West is 42% con- 4 sumptive (Howe, et al., 1971). The urban population in the Upper Missouri Basin is concentrated 10 , ',' .-:.'." .' . -" ". ,:.";.." . - . :~:./\/..\;:~:.. :.~:;t?~..:.~.: tJ. ;.:.. ~h :~:: ".~ ....:/..< .::_..'~ ":' '.' ..:......~ ,'".- . .. ':}f;,~:~:;~;~r'i~.";,:.j':;,,~{::~;