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increasing degree. Therefore, for those plants in a projected category, it would seem reasonable that perhaps half of them would be designed to utilize air cooling. This wou14 result in a decreased demand of some 160,000 acre-feet. 2. Augmentation through weather modification in the Upper Basin can be accomplished. With implementation of such a program, a conservative increase in water supply by year 2000 of some half million acre-feet annually seems quite possible. 3. The purchasing of agricultural water rights by energy interests is occurring in some parts of the Upper Basin today. Although the extent of this activity is very difficult to determine, it is conservatively estimated that 5 percent (about 90,000 acre-feet) of current agricultural water supplies in Colorado and Utah will have been converted to energy by year 2000. 4. Utilization of ground water as an interim or conjunctive supply is an alternative for partial fulfillment of energy development water needs. Water quality and streamflow depletion effects, how- ever, are constraints that must be considered in relatively large- scale withdrawals. The potential for use of ground water is significant throughout Upper Colorado River Basin;' and in the Piceance Creek Basin the projected needs of 21,500 acre-feet per year for mine dewatering and supply at Tracts C-a and C-b can be met without exceeding the annual recharge of 29,000 acre-feet in the Basin. Considerably greater quantities of ground water could be pumped; however, pumping more than the annual recharge rate would represent mining, or depletion of the ground water in storage in the Basin. With these conservative estimates of change the water use pro- jections as related to supply by year 2000 would be as shown on Figure 8. Although the analysis to this point would indicate that the water supply in the Upper Basin appears adequate for a considerable length of time, the estimates assume that several important policy decisions will be reached by State and Federal agencies to meet the situation. The decision items are as follows: . 1. Much of the projected water demands will be dependent on surface storage. This is especially true in the White River and Yampa drainages of Colorado where 90 percent of the oil shale deposits and much potential coal development are located. Con- struction of this storage, if developed to optimize multiple water use objectives, must be scheduled so as to meet the energy development time table. This means that storage projects capable 68