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60. FUTURE GROWTH TRENDS.- area was estimated by an analysis income, assuming that there would for flood control. Future development in the Las Animas of population growth and agricultural be no additional improvements bui It ~.. the rai Iway which connects with the Arkansas Valley Branch. The city is located on transcontinental U.S. Highway 50 and on Colorado State Hi ghwC'y 10 I. Cont i nenta I Tra i Iways Bus Line and two interstate truck i ng I ines serve the city. Central Airl ines has one scheduled fl ight each day into Lamar, Colo., which is 37 mi les east of Las Animas. The Las Animas airport, located near the city I imits on the south, is adequate for smai I and medium planes. 59. Natural gas is suppl ied to the area by the Citizens Uti lity Company, a pr i vate I y-owned concern. The Las An i mas water system and light and power faci I ities are municipally owned. The Rural Electri- fication Administration has brought electricity in recent years to nearly every farm home in the irrigated area. In addition, municipally- owned ut i lit i es have bu i I t many miles of power lines to serve rura I customers in the county. Telephone service is supplied by the Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company, which spent $445,000 in 1961 for installation of a telephone dial system in Las Animas. The Las Animas municipal water supply is pumped from four wel Is 30 to 40 feet dee p and one we I I 400 feet dee p. Las An i mas was the fir st town in the Arkansas Val ley in Colorado to bui Id a modern sewage disposal system (1957). The treatment facility is located approximately one-half mile below the town on the right bank of the Arkansas River. The sewage is delivered in a IO-inch forced main from a I ift station in the city. Treatment is accompl ished in three open sewage lagoons which discharge into the Arkansas River through open ditches. 61. An estimate of the future population growth at Las Animas was made by taking into consideration the growth factors and trends in Bent County, the State of Colorado, and the United States, and the primary factors influencing growth in each of the areas. The rate of population growth at Las Animas over the next century is expected to be lower than that of either the State of Colorado or the United States. The popu- lation of Las Animas is expected to increase to about 4,500 in 2060, an increase of 1.32 times the 1960 population of 3,402, or about 0.3 percent per year compounded annually. The principal reason for this expected slow growth is the great extent to which the economy of the area is dependent on agriculture. Cultivated acreage in the vicinity of Las Animas is probably stabi I ized because the demand for irrigation water exceeds the supply under present conditions. This situation coupled with the decrease in number employed in agricultural production tends to produce an out-migration which is barely offset by the birth rate. 62. Although expansion of the irrigated acreage in the Las Animas area is not anticipated, the net income from presently irrigated land 19