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IIITDIIC I 'IDJICTID 'D'UL4TIDI FDIIDULDII, L411111 41D WILD CDUITIII CD COLORADO STATE PLANNING OFFICE PROJECTION - LOW o EXHIBIT m- I 800 / I 70a / 1 700 01 1 1 I 1 10 I I , I ".- 600 I "1:0 ~ I 1'43' ~' , i::' " # <:)~~" r. f~' ,::,"'; ~" <?><:J'; O~ " ~<f. 1~'1J ,~ <n Q !527 Z 500 ~ ::> o r I- 400 I Z o 300 !;t -J ::> "- o 200 "- COLORADO STATE PLANNING OFFICE PROJECTION - HIGH o COUNTY PLANNING OFFICES PROJECTIONS 'TO'TAL WELD / ,.,.."i;" / ",,.,,~f(,.~ /f(,.\}J" .....~\ ~ ", "CI- , 100 1900 1920 LARIMER /940 1960 1980 o 2000 A review of data on M&I water consumption in nine major communities in the study area for the 1973-1974 period shows that the present use is about 230 gallons per capita per day (gal/per capita/d). This compares with a national average of about 150 gal/per capita/d. Johnstown, a highly industrialized town in Weld County, used more than 600 gal/per capita/d in 1959. Historically, the per capita water use for municipal and industrial purposes has been increasing, and this trend is expected to continue in the future. The approximately 1,218,000 acre-feet of surface and ground water shown on exhibit IV.6 (Part IV) as the total supply available within the study area is being stretched severely in order to satisfy municipal, industrial, and agricultural demands. From the standpoint of municipal and industrial use, water problems stem from the rapidly expanding urban growth, overappropriated streamflows, difficulties in acquiring and developing new water rights, inadequate upstream reservoir storage capacity, and a need to consolidate existing distribution systems. Problems of irrigated agriculture along the Front Range relate primarily to the growing competition between agricultural water use and other uses. Other interests, such as municipal and industrial, fish and wildlife, recreation, and environmental, are beginning to look at all possible avenues for acquiring irrigated lands and their water rights as a means of satisfying their needs. As a result, there is a growing concern about the transfer of water from agricultural use to other uses, the breakup of irrigated land continuity as a result of random development of urban tracts on previously irrigated lands, and the change of stream regimen and diminishing return flows. Planners and local interests should consider the desirability of preserving those lands and water rights that are best suited for crop production and for meeting the Nation's needs for food and fiber and for improving national economic efficiency. This becomes 111-2