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Honorable Stewart L. Udall Page 3 the groundwater resources, economic retrenchment of the area would be inevitable. The appraisal report also showed that, although the costs of the central Arizona project had risen in accordance with the trend of the times, the benefits accruing to the project and the capacity for repayment of costs by the potential water users had risen at a far greater rate due to the growth and development that had occurred in the area." (Printed Hearings on S. 1658, page 40.) and "The Central Arizona project is, today, the same project that was outlined in detail in the Bureau of Reclamation's report of December, 1947. Changes have been made in the project plan only as were necessary to take advantage of development during the last decade, and to modify the location and design of project features as required to meet present conditions." (Printed Hearings on S. 1658, page 34.) and "I am in my statement making clear that the central Arizona project embraced by Senate 1658, except for Marble Canyon, Bridge Canyon joint financial structure, is identical with what is proposed in the larger proposal, as one stage of the Southwest water plan. The central Arizona project is one of the strong motivations behind any Southwest water plan. It is a basic ingredient of that plan and ought to go forward at the earliest practicable moment. "It has been held up for 12 years. The matter was critical when we drafted our 1947 report. It has become seriously critical now with over-drafting of ground water and the only thing that can prevent catastrophe in the Southwest is a real statesmanlike approach to the water problem and the support of the Federal Government in financing it, strictly on a reimbursable basis." (Printed Hearings on S. 1658, page 37.) and "From an economic and financial standpoint the present analysis of the central Arizona project shows it to be one of the very best investigated by the Bureau of Reclamation in recent years. The estimated project construction costs subject to allocation to various functions of some $997 million, with an annual operation maintenance, and replacement cost of $8.611,000, will generate about $125 million worth of benefits annually. This results in a very favorable benefit-cost ratio of 3.03 to 1. The benefit-cost ratio in 1947 was only 1.63 to 1, which shows theEpson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 13,852,672 byte