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<br /> <br />SUMMARY <br /> <br />This report summarizes an assessment of area-wide needs for water and related land in the <br />Pacific Southwest as determined in four regional framework plan studies. It analyzes the capability <br />of resources available for development to meet these needs to the year 2020, and recommends <br />actions and programs to satisfy them. <br /> <br />The land base of 352 million acres was found to be adequate for most purposes if protected <br />from deterioration. About 38 percent of the land is privately owned. Urbanization will continue <br />as the population increases from 21.5 to about 65 million projected for 2020. <br /> <br />The undepleted area-wide runoff is about 94 million acre-feet per year. Total reservoir storage <br />capacity in 1965 was 96 million acre-feet. By the year 2020, the water requirement will be 72 <br />million acre-feet per year (depletion), or almost 80 percent of the undepleted runoff. Under <br />1965 conditions of development, 5.8 million acre.feet of groundwater overdraft were required to <br />meet water needs. <br /> <br />Water requirements of the Pacific Southwest will increase from 46 million acre-feet per year in <br />1965 to 72 million acre-feet per year by 2020. The increase is divided nearly equally between <br />irrigation and municipal and industrial uses. Future water needs cannot be met without augmenting <br />the Colorado River flow or mining groundwater. Increasing salinity is an additional complication <br />in Pacific Southwest streams and is creating serious problems on the lower reaches of the Colorado <br />River. Since study criteria precluded importation of water from outside the Pacific Southwest <br />area, the framework plan includes augmentation of the Colorado River with 4.1 million acre-feet <br />by 2020 using desalted ocean water delivered to Lake Mead. <br /> <br />The framework plan meets the projected 2020 needs for water supply, irrigation, electric <br />power, and commercial navigation. The plan also meets some of the needs for fish and wildlife, <br />shoreline protection, small craft navigation facilities, and about 80 percent of the flood control <br />needs. The major unmet needs concern timber production, range forage, and recreation. Most <br />of the unmet recreation needs involve urban-related recreation facilities. <br /> <br />The estimated installation cost of water-related features of the plan wilJ require continued <br />expenditure of about one bilJion dollars per year as has been spent in the recent past. <br /> <br />xiv <br />