Page 1

Umax Powerlook 2100XL, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 13,252,352 bytesNAVAJO IRRIGATION--SAN JUAN-CHAMA DIVERSION. WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 1958 United States Senate, Subcommittee on Irrigation and Reclamation, of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10 a. m. in room 224, Senate Office Building, Senator Clinton P. Anderson (presiding). Present: Senator Anderson. Senator Anderson. The subcommittee will be in order. The hearing today is on S. 3648, to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain the Navajo Indian irrigation project and the initial stage of the San Juan-Chama project as participating projects of the Colorado River storage project. We are glad to welcome the distinguished senior Senator from New Mexico, Mr. Chavez, a cosponsor with me of the bill; the able Representative from New Mexico, Mr. Montoya, and the distinguished Governor of New Mexico, Hon. Edwin L. Mechem. We also greet a representative group of other New Mexico officials, businessmen, and other private citizens, as well as spokesmen for Texas and California who have asked to be heard. This bill was introduced on April 21, 1958. A companion bill, H. R. 12170, sponsored by our able colleague, Representative Montoya, is pending in the House of Representatives. The Navajo irrigation development and the San Juan-Chama diversion have been under more or less active investigation for a quarter of a century. Every possible phase of each development has been thoroughly engineered. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been expended in studying water supply, irrigation potentials, soil conditions, and every other economic phase. These phases included the plight of the Navajo Indians and their urgent need for rehabilitation, through irrigation and development of agricultural and mineral resources, municipal water supplies for the expanding cities and towns downstream in New Mexico. The signing into law on April 11, 1956, of legislation authorizing construction of the Colorado River storage project was the culmination of half a century of research, study, and congressional attention. Some of the engineering studies and land withdrawals were made as early as 1904. From 1904 until the present, we have travelled a long, hard road. The seven Colorado River Basin States spent much time and study over a number of years before ratifying the Colorado River compact in 1922. The Colorado River compact was intended to make possible development of both upper and lower basins of the Colorado River. It