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 8the river between the two basins in perpetuity. From this start, the construction of Hoover Dam and the developments which followed were made possible. The harnessing of the Colorado River by Hoover Dam provided river regulation and control and made available a lowcost electrical energy supply for much of the Southwest. This lowcost energy, combined with subsequent regulatory developments on the Colorado River below Hoover Dam also made possible the transfer of a significant quantity of water from the Colorado River to the metropolitan complex of southern California. The combination of ecnomical electrical energy and an adequate water supply in southern California was an important factor in the attraction of many industries to the area which, in turn, created employment opportunities and has led to a population growth pattern which greatly exceeded the most optimistic earlier forecasts. Other factors, such as climatic attractiveness, also played their part, until today there are nearly 10 million people in southern California--which imposes a burden of great responsibility on the planners who must provide an everincreasing water and electrical energy supply. Corresponding surges of population into the southern Nevada and central Arizona regions within the past decade have further magnified the problems of providing the essential utility demands. Plans are needed to develop all existing water supplies in the basin to care for these population inflows. Historical ground-water supplies, wherever existing, have been overdrafted in most cases. 2Epson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 1,239,817 byte