
199Water Resources
exceeds a value of 0.20 (Szesztay 1970). High relative demand ratios indi-
cate that existing supply is susceptible to stress from growing populations,
increased industrial and commercial demand, and climatic uctuations. The
Alaskan basin, for example, has essentially no storage, but as relative demand
is also extremely low, the basin is not susceptible to drought for domestic
or industrial consumption. Conversely, the Lower Colorado River Basin has
a high relative storage capacity, but as consumptive use is 96% of renew-
able supplies, the users of runoff are vulnerable to drought. Basins such as
the Upper and Lower Colora ...