Wyoming Framework Water Plan - Living Rivers Home Page

6.0 PROJECTIONS
River Basin. Several small private hydroelectric plants are located throughout the state. In addition to the
hydroelectric plants, there are two wind farms generating electricity from wind power. One is located in
the Bear River Basin, and one is located in the Platte River Basin.
Chemical plants in Wyoming are not large and do not consume large amounts of water.
Examples of chemical plants include the Wyoming Ethanol plant in Torrington and the Dyno Nobel
ammonium nitrate plant near Cheyenne. Similar assumptions were made for future operation of these
plants. In the High Scenario, a 10 percent increase in production and water use would occur; in the Low
Scenario, a 10 percent decrease in production and water use would occur; and in the Mid Scenario, they
would hold steady.
FS Industries operates a fertilizer plant in Rock Springs and is supplied water by the Joint Powers
Water Board. This industry presently consumes about 560 acre-feet annually. In the High Scenario, it is
anticipated that this use could go to 1,500 acre-feet annually. In the Mid Scenario, use would increase to
1,000 acre-feet annually. In the Low Scenario, use would remain steady at present levels.
6.4.8 Industrial Summary
Industrial water use projections for Wyoming described
above focus on existing industries and their future water needs. The
potential for new industries to locate in the state to take advantage of
available water resources also merits discussion. According to the
U.S. Census Bureau (USCB), four industry groups account for over
95 percent of all of the industrial water used in this country each
year. These industries are electric power producers, chemical and
allied products manufacturers, primary metals producers, and paper and allied products manufacturers.
Electric power producers alone consume over 80 percent of all industrial water used in this country each
year. The other three industry groups account for roughly 14 percent of all industrial water use.
Wyoming is already well represented with respect to electric power production and chemical
manufacturers (the soda ash, phosphate, and ammonium nitrate industries fall into this group). It appears
likely that any new water-intensive industrial developments over the next 30 years will fall into the
electric power generation and/or chemical products categories. The other two intensive water use
industries, primary metals and paper producers, tend to locate near the source of their largest process
inputs -- metals and wood, respectively.
The possibility remains that new industrial water uses not discussed in this report will develop
over the next 30 years; however, the nature and extent of such developments is not foreseeable at this
time, and water requirements for such developments are not included in these projections.
Table 6-10 shows the projected industrial demands over the 30-year planning period. It can be
easily seen that industrial use varies greatly across the state. It should also be noted that some small
unquantified mining use has not been included in all basin projections due to lack of data and small
volume of use. In the Wind/Bighorn River Basin water rights were used to estimate and project use. This
likely overstates actual consumptive use somewhat in that basin.
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