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<br />The river below Lake Powell was divided into distinct reaches <br /> <br />~ <br />00 <br />~ <br />~ <br /> <br />to determine future salinity levels. Future estimates of water use <br /> <br />and salt loading for each appropriate reach of the river below Lake <br /> <br /> <br />Powell and the accumulative effect above Powell were superimposed <br /> <br />upon historical conditions for each year of the study. The changes <br /> <br /> <br />were routed downstream with the accumulated impact reflected at <br /> <br /> <br />downstream stations. <br /> <br />The studies were made on a monthly basis using a range of water <br />supply conditions and future depletion rates. <br /> <br />Projections of Future Water Use <br /> <br /> <br />The use of Colorado River water by the Upper Basin States in 1973 <br /> <br /> <br />is estimated to have been 2,976,000 acre-feet. A number of water de- <br /> <br />velopment projects are either now under construction or have been com- <br /> <br />pleted and water use is building up to project capacities. Several <br />other projects have been authorized for construction. In addition, <br />studies are being made of numerous in-basin projects that would de- <br />velop water for irrigated agriculture, oil shale, thermal-electric <br />generation, and municipal and industrial purposes. Some of the <br />projected future developments will provide for increasing trans- <br />mountain diversions to the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains <br />in Colorado, to the Bonneville Basin in Utah, and to the Rio Grande <br />Basin in New Mexico; there also may be new transbasin diversions in <br /> <br />Wyoming. Actual depletions by year 1990 in the Upper Basin, exclu- <br /> <br />sive of main stem reservoir evaporation, will be dependent on many <br /> <br />variables, including physical and legal restraints. In the studies <br /> <br />to estimate future salinity levels, three possible rates of 1990 <br />water usage were projected. These varied from a low of about <br /> <br />-25- <br /> <br />~ <br />