Memorandum Report - Lower Colorado River Project

Document: United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation, Memorandum Report, Lower Colorado River Perfection, Region 3, A.B. West, Regional Director, Boulder City, Nevada, March 1963, page 5area. It is clear that this area must look to other sources for its future water supplies. As water needs multiply, water shortages will increase and a regional approach, transcending State boundaries, will be required to permit the economy to go forward. With the decision of the Supreme Court near at hand in the Arizona vs. California water suit, it is appropriate to consider the program that will be required to maintain the present economy and provide for future growth in Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah, and New Mexico, the States of the Lower Colorado River Basin. A program to obtain the water supplies that will be demanded by a greatly increased population in future years will require large quantities of water to be imported into the area in addition to the water that can be gained by full beneficial use of present in-basin supplies. This additional water can be obtained by transmountain diversion of waters from other areas with future surplus flows, notably the Pacific Northwest, through water exchanges or through direct importation. Whenever technology permits, the desalinization of sea or brackish water for beneficial use also must be utilized to meet future water needs. The importation of large quantities of water from other river basins would entail major regulating reservoirs, high-lift pumping plants, aqueduct systems, and other works which would span many miles in traversing topographic barriers. Such a system would use large quantities of electrical energy over extended periods of time. 2Epson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 1,175,961 byte