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<br />o <br />0). <br />c;;J' " <br />CO <br /> <br />such uses (including reservoir evaporation) increase from about 3.8 maf under <br /> <br />present conditions of development to nearly 5.4 maf under year 2000 conditions <br /> <br />of development. The projected increase in depletions assumes a 500 percent <br /> <br />increase in consumption by steam-electric power generation facilities, construct- <br /> <br />ion of essentially all of the Upper Basin's presently authorized federal irri- <br /> <br />gation projects, and increases in exports out of the Upper Basin equal to, as <br /> <br />a first approximation, the announced intentions of those who are planning to <br /> <br />make such exports. Obviously, if future depletions by non-EET uses were <br /> <br />-- _.--'~,--- <br />to fall short of this projection, then water would be available to support <br /> <br />EET development in excess of 1.50 mill~on bazrels per day. <br /> <br />The third major assumption upon which the conclusion is premised concerns <br /> <br />the water~onsuming characteristics of EETs. For the purposes of this assessment, <br /> <br />it has been estimated that net water consumption by the oil shale industry would <br /> <br />'be 5,700 acre-feet per year per unit-sized plant (i.e., per 50,000 barrel per day <br /> <br />plant), while the high-Btu coal gasification industry would consume 7,500 acre- <br /> <br />feet per year (net) per unit-sized plant (i.e., per 250 million standard cubic <br />foot per day plant).l In addition; the consumption attributable to the spin-off <br /> <br />- <br />growth spawned by EET deveJ.opment''''{e.g., municipal and steam electric power <br /> <br />gen~ration uses) has been estimated as-being roughly 15 to 20 percent as much as the <br /> <br />consumption of the EETs themselves. Thus, total average annual consumption for a 1.5 <br /> <br />, million, barrel per. day indust:r)[.would be about 200,000 to 250,000 acre-feet ,depending <br /> <br />h . f 'I hId 1 if . . f 'I .. 2 <br />upon__t ~ ffil1{ 0 0.:;1--__ s a e an__ c:oa g(,!.s lcatlou aCl ltles. <br /> <br />1. Water consumption is expressed in net terms in recognition of the fact that certain <br />steps in both high-Btu coal gasification and oil shale retorting processes evolve <br />water. Overall, however, there will be a net consumption of water by these BET <br />facilities (certain experimental oil shale technologies perhaps being exceptions). <br /> <br />2. Expressed relative to Btu output, new water consumption for al oil shale plant was <br />estimated to be 5.38xlO-ll acre-feet per Btu (exclusive of the Btu value of by-product <br />off gases), while that for high-Btu gasification facilities was estimated to be <br />8.22xlO-l1 acre-feet per Btu. This difference in values is what leads to the 200,000 <br />to 250,000 acre-foot range, the water consumption of 8.7 trillion Btu per day industry <br />obviously being a fUnction of the mix of synthetic fuel technologies assumed. <br /> <br />civ <br />