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• ACCORDING TO THE SWSI REPORT, THE STATE'S POPULATION MAY INCREASE BY 2.8 MILLION BY 2030. <br />• MORE THAN 1.9 MILLION ADDITIONAL PEOPLE LIKELY WILL MOVE INTO THE SOUTH PLATTE BASIN. <br />• ALMOST ALL OF COLORADO'S 64 COUNTIES SHOW THE POSSIBILITY OF GROWTH. <br />• PARK COUNTY'S INCREASE MAY BE THE HIGHEST, ESTIMATED AT 482 PERCENT. <br />• APPROXIMATELY 250,000 ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO WELD COUNTY ALONE. <br />NEXT STOP <br />Brown said at the close of Phase I, the most common <br />complaint was that 18 months wasn't nearly enough time to <br />talk about everything. In Phase II, along with the possibilities <br />of collaborations, the river basin representatives also will talk <br />more about their concerns. <br />Brad Wind, a Senior Water Resources Engineer at <br />NCWCD, was on the South Platte roundtable. <br />"One of the bigger concerns that arose," said Wind, "was <br />that more than one entity may have targeted the same supply <br />to fill a future void. It surprised people that so many of us were <br />targeting the same water supply." <br />Wind said given the climate, it shouldn't have been. Water <br />purveyors don't report how much water they own, what's under <br />development or anything else unless it's absolutely necessary. <br />"To some degree, the NEPA process is the only time you're <br />pushed into a box to <br />tell or even determine <br />that information," <br />Wind said. <br />What the <br />discussion in the <br />South Platte Basin <br />turns on, said Wind, <br />is more about <br />"making sure the <br />process and projects <br />eventually provide <br />yield." <br />The projects can <br />be tracked and <br />monitored and the <br />public updated. <br />SIGNIFICANT INCREASES IN <br />COLORADO'S POPULATION WILL <br />INTENSIFY COMPETITION FOR WATER. <br />Projects and water management plans <br />have the ability to meet about 80 <br />percent of the states municipal and <br />i_ <br />industrial needs through 2030. <br />I s_ <br />Supplies are not necessarily where <br />demands are. <br />' Environmental and recreational uses <br />of water are expected to increase with <br />population growth. <br />"We identified them in the first phase," Wind said. "We <br />have to keep looking back, keep track, see what survives, <br />what new processes there are to meet the deficit. Are there <br />changes in environmental law? public perception? something to <br />reconsider ?" <br />STILL THE SHADOW <br />Still, the shadow of those numbers loom: <br />• An estimated influx of 2.8 million more people, 2.4 of them <br />on the Front Range, nearly 2 million of them in the South <br />Platte River basin; <br />• A 20 percent water shortfall even if all planned water <br />projects are built; <br />• Between 133,000 and 226,000 acres of irrigated farmland <br />within the South Platte basin dried up either because <br />it is developed for other uses or because water rights are <br />transferred to municipal and industrial uses; and <br />• A 53 percent increase in water demand over the next 25 <br />years. <br />"Some people are getting enlightened that there is a finite <br />supply," Wind said. "If they glean nothing else, they're getting <br />it: We've got X amount of supply and some hard choices to <br />make, whether we do that collectively or as individuals. I think <br />everyone at the roundtables recognized we've about tapped <br />things out and we'll have to get creative to meet the demands, <br />not only from municipal and industrial uses, but recreational <br />and environmental uses." <br />Conservation plays a major role. So does the outcome of <br />planned water projects. <br />"It's not clear what the answer is," Brown said. "We don't <br />have it. Our board doesn't. This is a process. It's going to take a <br />long time." <br />Beyond 2030, growing demands may <br />require more aggressive solutions. <br />Increased reliance on nonrenewable, <br />nontributary groundwater raises <br />concerns, particularly along the Front <br />Range. <br />To the extent the identified projects <br />aren't implemented, M &I water <br />providers will dry up farmland to meet <br />the demands. <br />The ability of smaller, rural water <br />providers and agricultural water users <br />to address their existing and future <br />water needs is affected by money. <br />Water conservation will be a major tool <br />for meeting future M &I demands, but <br />conservation alone cannot meet all of <br />the future needs. <br />In -basin solutions can help resolve the <br />remaining 20 percent gap between M &I <br />supply and demand. <br />— from the Executive Summary The Statewide <br />Water Supply Initiative, A Collaborative Assessment <br />of Future Water Needs and Solutions <br />APRIL 2005 WATERNEWS 19 <br />