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Drought Mitigation Subcommittee human demand for water and can help in estimat- ing what future demand will be. Commercial use includes water used by hotels, mo- tels, office buildings, restaurants, other commercial fa- cilities, and civilian and military institutions. Commercial water use amounted to 120 miIlion gal- lons per day during 1985 and it ranged from 0.01 mil- lion gallons per day in Costilla and Dolores Counties to 37.0 miIlion gallons per day in Denver County. Domestic use includes water used for inside house- hold purposes such as bathing, drinking, flushing toi- lets, food preparation, washing clothes and dishes, and for outside household purposes such as washing cars and watering lawns and gardens. It is estimated that about 40 percent of all domestic water is used for lawn watering in metropolitan areas, however, some- what less water is used for lawn watering in mountain areas. Domestic water use amounted to 473 miIlion gallons per day during 1985, an average of146 gallons per person per day. Domestic use ranged from 0.11 miIlion galIons per day in Hinsdale County to 79.4 miIlion gallons per day in Denver County. Industrial use consists of water used by manufactur- ing facilities including facilities that produce food and kindred products, steel, chemical, paper and aIlied products, and machinery. Industrial water use in Colorado totaled 138 miIlion gallons per day during 1985 and ranged from little or no industrial use in many counties to 72.7 miIlion gallons per day in Pueblo County. Irrigation use consists of water applied to lands to assist in the growing of crops and pastures or to main- tain recreational lands such as parks and golf courses. Irrigation water use was 12,400 miIlion galIons per day, making it the largest use in the state. Livestock use was 61 miIlion gallons per day. About 31 million gallons per day of water was consumptive use. The state produced about 3.5 million cattle, sheep, and hogs. Mining use was 91.3 miIlion gallons per day. Six per- cent of this quantity was used by coal mining, 46 per- cent by hard-rock mining, 10 percent by sand and gravel quarrying, and 38 percent by oil production. All of the water was self-supplied, and 23 percent was consumptive use. Power use was 7,393 million gallons per day, making it the second largest category of water use in the state. Fossil-fuel plants used 121 million galIons per day while producing 26,500 gigawatt-hours of net power and hydroelectric.power plants used 7,270 million gal- lons per day while producing 2,400 gigawatt-hours of net power. While hydroelectric-power water use occurred princi- pally in Western Colorado (in Gunnison, Mesa, and Montrose Counties), irrigation water use is distrib- uted throughout the state. Each of the major river ba- sins in Colorado contain a leading irrigation water use county. Domestic, commercial, and industrial water use occurs primarily within the urban corridor from Pueblo north to Fort CoIlins. Future Drought in Colorado Drought is a natural, yet unpredictable occurrence in Colorado. Droughts have been known to last for a year or two, or up to a decade or more. Coloradans must continue to plan for future dry periods through conser. vation and public involvement. Drought is everyone's problem. If water demand rises and supplies are not resolved, more costly droughts must be expected. Drought Mitigation Subcommittee During the period from October I, 1991 to September 30, 1992 (1992 Water Year), winter snowpack was generally below nonnal but was folIowed by a wet summer, leading to an overalI average precipitation year. There were peaks and valleys throughout the year with some minor agricultural drought impacts on the eastern plains. The water year ended with the northwest comer of the state dry and some relatively smalI areas of the state reflecting moderate to severe drought. The carry.over capacity of reservoirs throughout the state is excelIent. 17