Laserfiche WebLink
<br />00D753 <br /> <br />A detailed analysis of state water use under 1985 conditions was conducted by the U.S. Geological <br />Survey as a part of its water-use monitoring program. The work was conducted in cooperation with the <br />Colorado Division of Water Resources, Office of the State Engineer, and the results were reported on both a <br />county and hydrologic subregion basis (Litke and Appel, 1989), The regional watershed boundaries the <br />Task Force selected for its analysis of agricultural water conservation are generally consistent with the <br />hydrologic subdivisions used in the USGS study, In addition to the data for withdrawals and deliveries from <br />surface systems, the USGS analysis included estimates of ground water use from confined aquifers, <br />The data presented here (Table 2) were modified from the actual values compiled in the USGS report by <br />first removing the withdrawals given for hydroelectric power and then reporting water use for various <br />categories on a percentage rather than an absolute basis, Hydroelectric power withdrawals were eliminated <br />because no consumptive use is associated with this category of use and the general assumption that water <br />used for power generation is generally devoted to some other end use in the stream system before it leaves the <br />state, The categories given for various end uses differ in some cases from those used by the State Engineer. <br />Municipal use includes water used by hotels, motels, office buildings, restaurants and other commercial <br />facilities including civilian and military instiIutions, and all water used for household pmposes (inside and <br />outside) in both rural and urban areas, The industrial use category included water used for manufacturing and <br />processing of products such as foods, beverages, steel, machinery, chemicals, and paper, Other uses included <br />water used for the extraction of minerals, coal, crude petroleum, and natural gas; generation of thermoelectric <br />power; and water withdrawn by public supply systems but not delivered to commercial, domestic, industrial, <br />or power users, Uses not incorporated in the study included water use by fish hatcheries, second-source <br />domestic use, reservoir evaporation, water used in augmentation plans, and certain instream uses such as <br />habitat protection and recreation, <br />Withdrawals ,and deliveries for irrigation were greater than 90% of totals used for all pmposes on a state- <br />wide basis (Table 2), Variation in irrigation water use among the different basins is directly related to <br />population density, Irrigation water use comprises a much lower percentage of total use in the South Platte <br />and Arkansas basins, where population densities are greater and water use by the municipal and industrial <br />sectors is greater than in other basins. The high proportion of irrigation water use in Colorado is <br />comparable to that for other western states where significant irrigation development has occurred (EI-Ashry <br />and Gibbons, 1988), <br /> <br />16 <br />