Only Hudspeth County, neighboring El Paso County, is expected to show a decline in water demand. The growth in water demand, Ashworth says, is not as high as the population growth rate. He says the state is projecting lower demand rates than population rates because they believe education will result in more conservation. State planners also expect irrigation agriculture to decline in the future. Irrigation water demands are expected to drop from 342,848 acre-feet in 1996 to 298,848 in 2050.
Irrigation is the largest water use category in the region.
Water for electric power generation is expected to remain constant at 6000 acre-feet. Livestock usage is expected to remain constant at 4463 acre-feet of water. Mining water use is projected to grow only slightly, from 3366 to 3813 acre-feet. Most of the cities in the region are dependent upon groundwater, but then so are the competing agricultural entities. The surface water resources essentially are the Rio Grande and the Pecos River.