While Utahns are coping with a drought that has dragged on for more than half a decade, the state's population has edged toward 2.5 million.

These factors have led some to argue water availability should be used as a way to control population growth, an approach rejected by the state Division of Water Resources.

"We believe our assignment is to provide water for the growth that the governor's office is projecting," said Dennis Strong, the division's deputy director.

The state can meet expected water needs through the next 50 years, but that will require several strategies, he added in an interview Tuesday during a two-day symposium sponsored by the Western Governors Association and the Western States Water Council. Possible ways to provide more water include conservation, conversion of agricultural water and new developments, he said.

The meeting, which ends Wednesday at the Little America Hotel, has attracted water regulators from throughout the West as well as representatives of federal agencies.

Additional water could become available if some water-using industries close down.

With the shutdown of Geneva Steel, that major industry no longer requires the considerable water it once used. New light industries and residential developments are possible at the Geneva site.

Geneva's water "is available for somebody," Strong said.

Also, a year ago, Kennecott spokesman Louis Cononelos said that, realistically, the company has about 10 more years of open-pit mining — although Kennecott is trying to find ways to extend that. The company could take the mine underground, and Cononelos hopes Kennecott will be around in 100 years.

But some of the water Kennecott needs for its open-pit mining also might be freed for other purposes, according to Strong.

More water savings will come because of conservation, he said.

"Utah has responded to the drought," Strong added. "We've got 15 percent reduction" in water use over the past five years.

About 450,000 acre-feet might be saved this way alone, he said.

Converting agricultural land to residential neighborhoods also will mean a change in water use. As much as 264,000 acre-feet could be affected over the next 50 years.

These changes from farmland to homes will mostly affect Utah, Salt Lake, Weber and Davis counties, he believes.

"A lot of agricultural ground is going to have houses on it, all along the (Wasatch) Front," Strong said.

With quarter-acre home lots, water used for irrigating alfalfa is about equal to the amount of water needed by a family in a year. Families don't let land lie fallow from time to time, so they tend to use more water over the long run. Still, conversion can reduce the need for new water.