Page 1

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Office of the Secretary Washington 25, D. C. June 12, 1963 Dear Governor: The Supreme Court's decision in Arizona v. California on June 3 marked the beginning of a new phase in water development in the States of the lower Colorado River basin. While the Court's final decree remains to be formulated, the basic issues have now been decided. The people of the Pacific Southwest are now confronted with their greatest conservation challenge. It requires the development of a plan to meet the water needs of that region which is at once the driest and the fastest growing in the United States. In a real sense the Court's decision is only a shifting of shortages. It leaves us the pressing problem of providing adequate water supplies for the future. The joint task of State and Federal executives and legislators, a high task of statesmanship, is to end the old controversies and act for the long-term future. On January 22, 1963, in an exchange of letters with Congressman Wayne N. Aspinall, Chairman of the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee, I outlined a comprehensive Bureau of Reclamation study designed to produce a sound regional solution for all of the States, and all of the people in the Pacific Southwest. (You will find enclosed copies of the letters which outline the comprehensive approach.) You will note I said in this correspondence that the Governors of the affected States, and the appropriate members of the Congress must play a part in developing a comprehensive plan. The hour for water statesmanship in the Pacific Southwest has arrived. Those public leaders who now serve the lower Colorado States in Washington and in the State capitals have an opportunity to open up new avenues to mutual prosperity. By default of leadership, they will choose rather to return to the bitter battlegrounds of yesteryear. Extended controversies and protracted litigation do not develop water for the people's needs. Such a course will not help the Pacific Southwest prosper. Historically, the Congress and the people of the West have called upon the Department of the Interior and its Bureau of Reclamation to serve as the focal point in cooperative efforts for water planning andEpson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 14,178,304 byte