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. The reconnaissance report of February 1963 presented a complex plan which included combination of storage rights of Greeley's mountain reservoirs, regulation through exchange of city allotments from the Colorado-Big Thompson Project, abandonment of some plains irrigation reservoirs, and transfer of such plains storage rights to upstream Cache la Foudre Unit reservoirs, Enhancement of the available irrigation water supply would accrue through reduction of seepage losses from intake canals, addition to storage by provi- sion of replacement capacity lost through sedimentation, and savings of water by reduction of evaporation, As the' studies proceeded, questions arose concerning: (1) whether supplemental irrigation water was urgently needed, and could be justi- fied, and (2) the practicability of plains reservoir consolidation- transfer, and the willingness of their owners to participate, Numer- ous other problems were also encountered in attempting to devise procedures for practical application of the plains reservoir consoli- dation-transfer plans, It was concluded that the total irrigated area in the Cache la Poudre basin had facilities and water supplies ample to meet an average of 95 percent of their theoretical requirements, The limited need for supplemental irrigation water probably could be met almost entirely by conservation measures and cooperative efforts of local interests, . Further analysis also was made of the municipal and industrial water supplies and requirements for Fort Oollins and Greeley, The population projections made by the cities were utilized, although independent projections resulted in considerably lower estimates, Both cities have a policy of requiring new annexations to provide and assign rights for minimum suppl~es of water per acre of land, The analysis was based upon the population projections by the cities, a per capi~a requirement of 250 gallons of water daily, the full exercise of all presently owned water rights, and the new water rights accruing from the annexation policy, That analysis indicated that both cities would have adequate water until at least the year 2010 if the preceding basic assumptions are met, If their popula- tion prOjections should prove to be optimistic, the need for additional water would not arise for a longer period of time, The extent to which additional hold-over or regulatory storage might be needed was not studied in detail; however, either or both cities should be able to finance such improvements without hardship, AlthOugh the probable adequacy of a future municipal and industrial water supply was a consideration, economics constituted the most important single element leading to the decision to terminate the investigations, . 2