Appraisal Report Central Arizona Project

Document: "Appraisal Report Central Arizona Project-Chapter II", January 1962, page 19for nonbeneficial uses, losses, and waste. Some agricultural lands in the Upper Gila, San Pedro, and Santa Cruz areas have already been purchased by mining and municipal interests for retirement from production when growing municipal and industrial demands so require. In the Upper Tributaries Zone, lands of the watersheds are used to a large extent for grazing, timber production, and recreation. Irrigation farming, however, is important to the local economies. Future Land and Water Use It is contemplated that urban development will have a major influence on future land and water use in the Central Service Zone. Numerous recent evaluations of anticipated population growth have been made for this area by economists, engineers, planners, and business forecasters, all of which show quantitative variations as would be expected. The population projections, which are also shown on plate 5, are based on these evaluations and indicate the magnitude of growth that may be expected under conditions of an adequate water supply and barring any National economic or other catastrophe. On the basis of these projections it is estimated that, as the combined populations of the Phoenix and Tucson metropolitan areas approach 4,000,000,municipal and industrial water requirements in the Central Service Zone will increase from the present use of about 300,000 acre-feet per year to about 1,400,000 acre-feet per year. A major portion of these water requirements is expected to be met by the transfer of existing local irrigation water supplies to municipal and industrial use. However, a significant portion of the future expansion necessarily must occur in desert areas having little or no present water supply capability. It is estimated 19Epson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 1,045,441 byte