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<br />0'" 3. "'') <br />j !.J ; ,;; " <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />YAMPA STUDY DEMANDS <br />August 15,1994 <br />Page 2 <br /> <br />FUTURE DEMAND ESTIMATES <br /> <br />Demands for water are the result of various kinds of human activities. These <br />activities can be related to primarily to available natural resources. In the Yampa River <br />basin the availablle natural resources are coal, land and mountains. The related activities <br />are mining (and related thermoelectric generation), agriculture and tourism. The <br />utilization of these natural resources takes several different forms within the Yampa River <br />basin. The various activities in the Yampa River basin utilize water in different manners <br />and patterns. <br /> <br />The core economic activities which take advantage of the available natural resources <br />in the Yampa River basin cause and support an economic network of related activities. The <br />demand projections made during the Yampa Study were based on estimation of the future <br />growth of several economic sectors related to utilization of natural resources and the <br />associated economic network. The economic sectors identified for estimation were: <br />domestic, commercial, "other" industrial, thermoelectric, mining, irrigation, livestock, other, <br />reservoir evaporation and basin export. The water demands were estimated based on <br />future levels of economic activities and current levels of water utilization. Estimates of <br />growth were made in these various economic sectors as summarized below. <br /> <br />Domestic <br /> <br />Estimates of future domestic water use were made based on population projections. <br />The estimates were based on past historic rates of growth. The rates of growth were <br />selected based on the period covered by the 1970 to 1990 census data. This period <br />represented periods of moderate to high growth for Routt County and both periods of <br />growth and decline for Moffat County. The selected growth rates were 4.3 percent per <br />year for Routt county and 2.8 percent per year for Moffat County. Population projections <br />were made for the 25 year (year 2015) and 50 year (year 2040). Water demand was <br />based on current levels of use. <br /> <br />Commercial <br /> <br />Commercial activity is generally associated with population. The Yampa Study <br />utilized the same growth rates for commercial activity growth as domestic (population) <br />growth. <br /> <br />Industrial <br /> <br />The industrial sector in the Yampa Study demand projections consists of those <br />activities not specifically identified. The growth in this category were projected at the <br />same rates as domestic. The most significant increase in the industrial demand sector is <br />