Reply Letter Giving Report from the Bureau of Budget Prior to the Irigation and Reclamation Hearings on the Pacific Southwest Water Plan and S. 1663

Letter: Draft, to Henry M. Jackson, 4/8/64 (carbon copy), page 55 On August 26, 1963, an Interior Department Task Force completed a draft of the plan, and submitted it to the affected States and Federal agencies for review and comment. In consideration of these comments, a revised report on the Pacific Southwest Water Plan, dated January 1964, was prepared and approved by the Secretary of the Interior. In an effort to meet the needs of all the States in the Lower Colorado Basin, the Pacific Southwest Water Plan proposes to assure the future availability to the affected States of a water supply equivalent to that provided by 7.5 million acre-feet in the Lower Colorado River. If there is insufficient water, the plan proposes that water be made available at costs to users which would have prevailed if there had been no deficiency. The Pacific Southwest Water Plan, as proposed in the Department's report, has a total cost of $3.1 billion. An initial phase, consisting of eight projects, including the Central Arizona project and an elargement of the California aqueduct, is proposed for immediate authorization at a cost of $1.7 billion. A second phase, consisting of four projects in northern California, is recommended for later authorizationEpson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 3,187,713 byte