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CHAPTER VIII IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PLAN The Pacific Southwest Water Plan, as previously outlined in this report, is a comprehensive, coordinated plan formulated to provide for the present and future water needs of this growing region and to prevent conflicts of interest between various areas within the region that are now competing for the inadequate water supplies that are available. The plan includes several major water resource development projects which have been previously investigated independently and which have been determined to be economically justified and, under a basin fund concept, financially feasible. The Pacific Southwest Water Plan cannot be implemented merely through the individual or collective authorization of the previously investigated projects because present studies indicate that sufficient water cannot be made available from the Colorado River and other local supplies to satisfy future needs of this growing region. Should all of the presently planned projects be constructed, the long-range water needs of the region would not be provided for. The plan envisioned in this report provides not only for the staged construction of a series of water development projects within the Pacific Southwest, but also provides for import of water from areas of surplus, for the desalting of sea water and brackish water, and for the salvage, conservation and reclamation of water within the region. Because of the wide geographic separation of the major areas of need and the various sources of possible supply, the plan contemplates the exchange of water in accordance with need and engineering and financial feasibility. Implementation of the Pacific Southwest Water Plan will require the adoption of new concepts in the construction, operation, and financing of water resource development projects, new concepts of land and water management, and a new era of cooperation and coordination between the diverse interests involved. This does not imply, however, that construction of presently planned projects should be deferred pending implementation of the plan as a whole. Many of the presently planned projects, such as Central Arizona, Southern Nevada, Dixie, and the water salvage and conservation projects, are needed now to provide for urgent present needs, while other features of the proposed plan are needed to satisfy anticipated future demands. The Pacific Southwest Water Plan provides the framework under which projects to provide for present and future needs may be coordinated and constructed with proper timing. Within this framework, those projects that are urgently needed now should be undertaken immediately, while projects needed to satisfy future demands would be VIII-1Epson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 14,225,408 byte