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<br />2.0 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS <br /> <br />West Slope water storage facilities, such as Green Mountain Reservoir and Ruedi Reservoir. are an <br />important source of water for municipal, industrial and environmental uses. At present, the contract <br />demand for these two reservoirs is approximately 55,000 acre feet per year. <br /> <br />With continued growth in the area, the demand for reservoir water will increase significantly. We estimate <br />that reservoir demands will increase by 15,000 to 20,000 AF, or more, within the next fifty years. The <br />marketable yield of Wolford Mountain Reservoir, and water leased to the River District from Ruedi <br />Reservoir, can supply a significant portion of these anticipated future water demands. <br /> <br />2.1 FUTURE WATER DEMANDS <br /> <br />Municipal demands for water right augmentation supplies will continue to increase. Water users will be <br />required to augment depletions to the senior Shoshone and Cameo rights on the Colorado River. Certain <br />users with water rights junior to 1995 may also require water to augment anticipated instream flow claims <br />for the mainstem of the Colorado River. Water users throughout the upper Colorado River basin can use <br />water from either Wolford Mountain Reservoir or Ruedi Reservoir to augment depletions to these senior <br />demands. Municipal users on select tributaries to the Colorado River will require additional augmentation <br />water to offset local water right calls; however, releases from Wolford Mountain Reservoir or Ruedi <br />Reservoir also can provide valuable augmentation supplies to these users. <br /> <br />Population estimates, water use patterns and water market factors have been reviewed to estimate <br />potential future municipal demands. Based on this review, we estimate that municipal augmentation <br />demands from facilities such as Ruedi and Wolford Mountain reservoirs could increase by 10,000 to <br />15,000 acre feet, or more, by the year 2045. <br /> <br />Industrial augmentation demands will also increase and several industrial users have expressed interest in <br />leasing water from the District. It is difficult to anticipate the specific amount of increased industrial <br />demand that may occur. However, we believe that it is reasonable to expect that without development of <br />an oil shale industry, industrial demands could increase by several thousand acre feet or more during the <br />next fifty years.' If significant ski area expansion or oil shale development occurs, the industrial demand <br />could increase much more than this amount. <br /> <br />Additionally, a potential out-of-basin water market exists. Trans-basin users could release water from an <br />in-basin reservoir (such as Wolford Mountain Reservoir) to augment out-of-priorily trans-basin diversions. <br />We estimate that a dry year demand for existing out-of-basin water uses could exceed 5,000 acre feet. <br />Water leased for out-of-basin purposes could be leased on a temporary interruptible basis. In this regard, <br />water could be leased to out-of-basin interests in only those years when adequate water is available for all <br />in-basin uses. It may also be possible to exchange water with selected trans-basin interests in order to <br />obtain in-basin supplies in geographic areas that require local augmentation, such as the Eagle River <br />basin or the Fraser River basin. <br /> <br />I <br />J <br /> <br />2 <br />