4) The supply potential of the water source, considering quantity, quality, and reliability and safe yield of hydrologically interconnected water sources;
Application materials, extensive evaluation and consideration by staff, along with experience with the aquifer in the area, lead staff to conclude that the aquifer can sustain the proposed withdrawal without deleterious
effects to the dependent resources.
No problem, I happen to be very close with a professional environmental engineer. It is amazing the amount of work put into modeling environmental impact, especially on hydro models. A lot of the original models and methods still used today were developed by the US Army Corps of Engineers.
Is this a relevant comparison? Just as much so as comparing a local watershed-impacting factory to a state's usage.