Reply Letter Giving Report from the Bureau of Budget Prior to the Irigation and Reclamation Hearings on the Pacific Southwest Water Plan and S. 1669

Letter: Draft, to Henry M. Jackson, 4/8/64 (carbon copy), page 1010 Comments on Central Arizona project Central Arizona has experienced one of the most rapid population growth rates in the Nation. This situation, combined with a continuing overdraft in ground water supplies, has resulted in an increasingly critical water supply problem. Moreover, the Central Arizona project, which would alleviate this situation has been delayed more than a decade pending the outcome, as noted earlier, of litigation before the Supreme Court. The importance of the Central Arizona project to the people of Arizona is, therefore, evident. However, while the project as presently planned meets current tests of economic feasibility under the reclamation program, it raised a number of serious questions, including some of those discussed above in connection with the Pacific Southwest Water Plan, which we believe should be considered before any final congressional action: (1) Whereas depletion of groundwater reserves was recognized as a serious problem in the 1947 report, the overdraft was increased in the intervening years. In the absence of effective action, there can be no assurance that importation of a Colorado River supply would stimulate adoption of those conservation measures neeeded to bring ground water supply more closely in balance with demand.Epson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 3,194,094 byte