Laserfiche WebLink
<br />. <br /> <br />standards. This is especially true for the ammonia component of <br /> <br /> <br />the wastewater which is highly toxic to fish. In the plains area, <br /> <br /> <br />especially along the South Platte River and its mountain-fed <br /> <br /> <br />tributaries, irrigated agriculture is extensively practiced. Both <br /> <br /> <br />surface water and ground water are extremely valuable commodities, <br /> <br /> <br />and the water is used and reused as it moves through the basin. <br /> <br /> <br />This has led to increasing concentrations of dissolved solids in <br /> <br /> <br />both the surface water and ground water. As the dissolved solids <br /> <br /> <br />content of the water increases, its uses for agriculture, domestic, <br /> <br />industrial, and fish and wildlife purposes become limited. <br /> <br />The water quality problems encountered in the basin are to a <br /> <br /> <br />large extent a fUnction of the quantity of water available to meet <br /> <br /> <br />the needs of an expanding economy. An indicator of projected econ- <br /> <br /> <br />omic growth is the population growth of an area. The Denver Water <br /> <br /> <br />Board used figures projecting the doubling of the Denver area popu- <br /> <br /> <br />lation to 3 million persons by the year 2000 in the Metropolitan <br /> <br /> <br />Water Requirements and Resources Study. <br /> <br />The basin has an average annual supply of 1.78 million acre-feet <br /> <br /> <br />of which 336 thousand acre-feet is imported from the western slope <br /> <br /> <br />and 1,044 million acre-feet is derived from basin precipitation. <br /> <br /> <br />Basin outflow is limited to 304 thousand acre-feet most of which is <br /> <br /> <br />high flow from the spring runoff. This means that 83 percent of the <br /> <br /> <br />total water supply never leaves the basin during an average year. <br /> <br /> <br />Agricultural use accounts for 70 percent of the consumptive use. <br /> <br />Only 17 percent of the water leaves the basin. <br /> <br />The South Platte River Compact requires that only 48 thousand <br /> <br /> <br />acre-feet of water enter Nebraska each year which is only 2.7 percent <br /> <br />j,75 ,,\ <br />,Q2i <br />/ff,vfv <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />14 <br />