The Pacific Southwest Water Plan - A Report of the Assembly Interim Committee on Water to the California Legislatures

Document: The Pacific Southwest Water Plan, A report of the Assembly Interim Committee on Water to the California Legislature, November 8, 1963, page 5Introduction On August 26, 1963, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall submitted his Pacific Southwest Water Plan to the Governors of the five Pacific Southwest States with a request, pursuant to the Flood Control Act of 1944, for comments from the states within a 90-day period. Pursuant to Assembly Concurrent Resolution 1 of the First Extraordinary Session of 1963, the Assembly Interim Committee on Water held a joint hearing with the Senate Fact Finding Committee on Water Resources on the "Pacific Southwest Water Plan" in Sacramento on October 31, 1963. This report constitutes the comments of the Assembly Interim Committee on Water regarding the Plan. These comments are being made because of the importance of the Plan to California and because the Committee feels the Legislature should be on record on this proposal. The proposed plan, as submitted to the Governor, deeply involves the State Water Project, including an enlargement of the California Aqueduct through the Central Valley and into Southern California in the form of a joint Federal-State undertaking. Ostensibly the Plan was developed partially to compensate California for water losses which are alleged to result from the United States Supreme Court Opinion in Arizona v. California, the Colorado River Decision, even though the full impact of that decision will not now be known until the Court's decree is signed and other matters, including a shortage formula, are resolved. Assembly Concurrent Resolution 1 authorizes this Committee to make a comprehensive study of the effect of the decision on state water planning. The Committee believes that a number of general observations are appropriate before making specific comments on the PacificEpson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 1,312,828 byte