WSPC02080

• File Number: 8040.950
• Description: Section D General Studies - General Water Studies
• State: CO
• Basin: Statewide
• Date: 9/1/1981
• Author: Colorado DNR
• Title: Colorado Water Study - Background Volume - Preliminary Review Draft - Appendices
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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Draft - 9/81

(increases 6f 69.4 percent and 139.2 percent over the current

figures). Coal and uranium dev~lopment, as well as the ski and

recreation industries, are the driving forces behind this popula-

tion growth, the largest percentage of which is expected to hap-

pen before 1991. Policy interventions recognized by the Division

of Planning for the region involve a doubling of employment in

the mining sector in both Gunnison and Montrose Countie~. Their

refined analysis of the projections indicates that the actual

population figures for the year 2000 will likeiy fall between the

medium and high projections.

Colorado River Mainstem

Next to the Northwest Region, the Colorado River Mainstem is

the region which is expected to feel the most significant impacts

of energy development. Over half of its population is found in

Mesa County where the city of Grand Junction sits at the conflu-

i
~

ence of the Gunnison and Colorado Rivers. The region is rich in

coal, and Garfield County is one of the two co~nties which con-

tains the bulk of Colorado's oil shale.

(The other county is Rio

Blanco, located in the Northwest Region.) The Division of

Planning includes policy interventions for energy development in

Garfield County and recreational development in Eagle County,

where the ski resort of Vail is located.

Under the low projection for the year 2000, 117,100 addi-

tional people will live in the area, an absolute increase of 85.7

percent or an average annual increase of 4.08 percent. The high

projection for the same year anticipates an additional population

of 154,300 people which is an absolute increase of 113 percent

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