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<br />002420
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<br />JHyd'rol'ogic, as well as demographic, economic, and land-use data, will be util-
<br />ized for a comprehensive assessment of interactions between resource develop-
<br />ment and environmental qual ity (Envi ronment Canada, 1975), Forecasting method-
<br />ologies couple available data lnputs with quantitative techniques, or util ize
<br />descriptive or empirical methods (Rickert and others, 1975). For modeling
<br />applications, current techniques will be reviewed, The method selected will
<br />reflect a balance of data requirements and other resource needs (Hines and
<br />others, 1975), Methodologies developed by the residuals-management analysis
<br />will assist the basin-assessment project staff in generating the residual
<br />loadings resulting from energy-resource development plans identified for the
<br />basin. Phase I of the basin assessment (see p, 2 and table 1) will provide
<br />much of the background information for use in the second or assessment phase,
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<br />The project staff of the basin assessment seeks to coordinate closely
<br />several work activities with other units of the U,S, Geological Survey and
<br />Federal, State, and local planning agencies. Related ongoing studies by the
<br />U,S. Geological Survey include the residuals-management analysis and land-use
<br />mapping of part of the Yampa River basin, Personnel assigned to projects of
<br />the U.S, Geological Survey funded by the U,S. Bureau of ~and Management, U,S,
<br />Env i ronmenta I Protection Agency ,and Co 10radoDepartment of Natural Resources
<br />are obtaining hydrologic data for the Yampa River basin. Two waste-management
<br />planning studies funded by the U,S. Environmental Protection Agency to fulfill
<br />requirements of Section 208 of P,~. 92-500 include the 'Colorado part of the
<br />Yampa River basin, and assessment work tasks of mutual interest to the U,S,
<br />Environmental Protection Agency and the U,S, Geological Survey are being car-
<br />ried out by direct collaboration, The recently completed draft environmental
<br />impact statement on northwest Colorado coal development also contains much
<br />pertinent hydrologic and coal-resource information (U,S. Bureau of Land Man-
<br />agement and U,S. Geological Survey, written commun, , 1976). One topic an~a
<br />requiring technical expertise and knowledge not held within the U,S, Geologi-
<br />cal Survey involves legal and institutional aspects of the Yampa River basin's
<br />water resources. This study component is being carried out, i,n part, with the
<br />Colorado State Engineer's office,
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<br />Itemized Phase-II coordinated work tasks for the Yampa River basin assess-
<br />ment and the regional residuals-management analysis are ,Indicated in table 2,
<br />Six primary work activities have been identified (codes II-A through II-F,
<br />table 2), with secondary breakdowns shown for the first three activities, The
<br />first four work activities identify a sequence in carrying out the basin as-
<br />sessment: (1) Energy-development proposal identification (work task I I-A),
<br />(2) residual generation and loadings (work task II-B), (3) selection and adap-
<br />tation of various environmental assessment techniques (work task I I-C), and
<br />finally, (4) evaluation of feasibil ity and various consequences with respect
<br />to environmental policies and economic considerations of each energy-develop-
<br />ment proposal (work task II-D), This sequence conforms to the components for
<br />regional assessments (fig, 2), Data-gathering activities (work task II-E) are
<br />included within each of the four work tasks, The final work task (II-F) con-
<br />sists of documentation of the basin-assessment methodological appl ications and
<br />results.
<br />
<br />For each identified component of the work task in table 2, a tentative
<br />preliminary breakdown of efforts of the Yampa River basin-assessment project
<br />staff, the regional residuals-management analysis staff, and other entities is
<br />glven, As indicated by the work-task components, the minimum basin-assessment
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