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~ -J ~ ~ a year 2000 population that would be about two-and-a-half times larger than that which existed in 1975. Reasoning similarly, the two postulated levels of EET development are projected to add anYwhere from 1.5 to. 4 percentage p@ints to this 3.9 percent annual compound.growth rate, bringing the over- all annual compound growth rate to as high as 7 or.8 percent. Year 2QOO population levels would, under these circumstances, be about 550 to 700 percent larger than the 1975 population. Clearly, rates of population growth this large imply that most of the increase in population (perhaps as much as 70 to 80 percent) would be attributable to in-migration to the Upper Basin. Furthermore, as with economic impacts, the consequences of population growth would not be evenly distributed across the Upper Basin. To the contrary, growth would undoubt- edly be concentrated in 5 or 6 counties and probably within only a dozen or so towns in those counties. The rapid rates of population growth implied by the two postulated levels of EET development would clearly change community and social conditions in a number of areas in the Upper Basin. The characteristics of small rural communities would undoubtedly undergo significant transformations, some of which could be viewed as positive changes and others of which would be thought by many to represent adverse impacts. The main point for the purposes of this assessment, however, is simply to note thatEET develop~ ments, even if they required no water development activities at all, would still prompt pervasive changes in the social conditions of the Upper Basin. Impacts of Developing Surface Water Supplies. As was noted at the out- set, surface water supplies will be available for a synfuels industry only if reservoir and pipeline facilities are constructed. The development of such facilities would obviously entail short-term construction periods during which local communities might experience population influxes and economic growth directly attributable to water development activities. After construction, however, only a very small residual work force would remain to operate and maintain the facilities (on the order of 1 to 10 people per unit-sized plant). In contrast, the operational work force of a unit-sized EET plant itself would probably number around 1,000 people. Thus, the economic and social impacts of surface water developments would be insignificant in contrast to massive impacts which EET developments would have. The major impacts of developing surface water for EETs will stem from the depletion and re-regulation of stream flows. Thus, fishery habitat conditions and recreational opportunities (e.g., rafting and kayaking) may be affected. Such effects can, however, wither increase or decrease habitat availability and recreational opportunities depending upon the circumstances at hand. cxviii