WSP03164

• Author: USFWS
• Title: Management Plan for Endangered Fishes in the Yampa River Basin - Volume II -Appendices - USFWS - 09-01-2004

002632

August 23, 2000

Industrial Uses

page 7

In the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Sandstone Reservoir, (Corps of Engineers, Omaha
District, January, 1988) the ability to provide 20,000 acre-feet per year for a future industrial developer
is presented. At that time a specific need for such water did not exist, although operation studies
indicated such water was available for storage and development within the basin.

Industrial use projections outlined by Watts (2000) are used as a starting point to project future
industrial use depletions to year 2045 for the Little Snake River Basin. Watts' industrial use projections
do not purport to guess in what areas of the basin industrial use will grow, only that the growth will
probably come from established industries. While Watts proposes thrce growth scenarios, only the
moderate growth scenario is used herein (as was done with the projections for municipal use as
described above). A reasonable approach given the non-spatial nature of industrial demand projections
for the Green River Basin is to assign growth in industrial water demand on an area-weighted basis. To
do otherwise would effectively discount that industrial growth will likely occur in the Little Snake River
Basin. Wyoming's portion of the Little Snake River drainage (approx. 851,975 acres) is about 6.4
percent of the land area of the portion of the Green River Basin located in Wyoming (approx.
13,349,351 acres) (Chris Jessen, personal communication). Applying this basin area percentage (6.4 %)
to the moderate industrial growth projection of 40,000 acre-feet per year yields 2,560, rounded to 3,000
acre-feet per year, of industrial water demand in year 2045. Application of the high industrial demand
projection would yield an estimate of about 6,400 acre-feet per year. Maintaining the State of
Wyoming's ability to provide industrial water when demand arises in the next 45 years is critically
important. Based on the above, the future depletion estimate includes 3,000 acre-feet per year.
Summary of Current and Future Depletions

The following current depletion estimates are presented:

Current Use

Municipal (In-Basin)
City of Cheyenne
Agricultural
High Savery Reservoir
Diked Wetlands

Small Reservoirs

Total

...n__. }>epl.etion,_AFI\'R.. .
76
14,400
20,050
7,724
284
49
42,583

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Appendix C - Technical Memoranda from Colorado and Wyoming

C-ll