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<br />. <br /> <br />employment projections for the basin shows great disparity in <br />predicting what the future will be. Figure I illustrates the <br />disparity in population projections for the Colorado and Wyoming <br />portions of the South Platte River basin. <br /> <br />Since most water and related land resources planning in this <br /> <br /> <br />basin requires some knowledge about the fUture of regions much <br /> <br />smaller than the entire basin, an analysis was made of the disparity <br /> <br /> <br />in projections by county. This analysis revealed a variance between <br /> <br /> <br />projections in population for 1990 of as high as 167 percent. The <br /> <br /> <br />median of the difference was 40 percent. <br /> <br />ALTERNATE FUTURES <br /> <br />Since the future population, employment, and other parameters <br /> <br /> <br />closely linked to population and employment cannot be predicted <br /> <br /> <br />with certainty, a number of alternative futures were developed to <br /> <br /> <br />guide water resources planning in the South Platte River basin. <br /> <br />The development of basinwide alternative population, employ- <br /> <br /> <br />ments, and other planning variables would not satisfy the require- <br /> <br />ments for evaluation of the sensitivities of each particular problem <br /> <br /> <br />to future changes. Alternative futures will be used in two ways in <br /> <br /> <br />the study. First, variables associated with each specific problem- <br /> <br /> <br />solving activity will be analyzed with respect to the specific prob- <br /> <br /> <br />lem and the formulation of solutions to that problem. Secondly, <br /> <br />alternative future situations within the basin may be confronted and <br /> <br /> <br />the effects that these alternative situations may have on planning <br /> <br />will be evaluated. This discussion deals only with the basinwide <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />7 <br />