WSP06888

• File Number: 8270.100
• Description: Colorado River Basin Water Quality/Salinity -- Misc Water Quality
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 4/1/1982
• Author: USDA
• Title: Colorado River Water Quality Improvement Program - Final Environmental Impact Statement for Lower Gunnison Basin Unit - Montrose and Delta Counties CO and Uintah Basin Unit
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: EIS

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Social and Economic Characteristics

The Lower Gunnison area was first explored, but not settled, by the
Spanish. In 1873, the Ute Indians ceded the upper basin to the federal govern-
ment and settlement started almost immediately. Captain Gunnison explored
much of the area in 1881 searching for a feasible railroad route across the
Continental Divide. Since 1882, when a railroad and the first irrigation
ditches were built in the valley, irrigation progressed to where there are now
170,900 irrigated acres in the Lower Gunnison study area. Principal crops
include alfalfa hay, grass hay pasture, small grains, corn and orchard.

Principal towns are Montrose and Delta, with six smaller communities also
located in the area. Due to the nation's need for the energy resources in the
area, Delta County is expected to grow more in the next 10 years than Montrose
County.

The area has a present year-round population of approximately 45,000 people,
in 3,148 square miles, or a population density of 14 people per square mile.
If present trends continue, the population will increase about 2 percent per
year. With a salinity control program, population may increase at a slightly
higher rate. Expected coal gasification activity will significantly increase
population growth during the next 10 years.

Migration slightly increases the area's population during the summer and fall
as vacationing people and hunters visit the area for scenic and recreation
attractions, and living in summer homes. No effect on the tourism and hunting
(principally big game) is anticipated with the proposed irrigation improvements.

The population largely is white Caucasian !/ (96 percent) including those of
Spanish origin (9 percent of the population). In the rural agricultural area,
less than 4 percent of the residents are of Spanish descent. There are less
than 500 black, oriental and American Indian residents in the area, and no
localized settlements of any ethnic group in the rural area.

The 1970 Census of Population ~/ reports median family income in the area
ranges between $7,000 and $10,000 per year. In the study area, 15 percent of
the households are below the poverty level, 55 percent earn between $3,000 and
$10,000 a year and 30 percent earn more than $10,000 per year. The largest
earnings by economic sector are local, county, state and federal government;
agriculture; wholesale and retail trade; mining; and services.

The largest employer in the project area was the wholesale and retail trade
sector which employed almost one out of five working people in the region. A
close second, with 19 percent of those employed, was the professional and
related services sector. The agriculture, forestry and fisheries sector was
also a major employer in the region with 16 percent of all employed. Together,
these three sectors employed 55 percent of the working population.

The other major employing sectors in descending order are mining, construction,
transportation-co~unication-utilities, and public administration.

!/ Advance Reports,. 1980 Census of Population and Housing, Bureau of the
Census, U.S. Department of Commerce.
~/ Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce.