Economic Significance of Water Supply

Attachment No. 2, Lower Colorado River Basin Project, Economic Significance of Water Supply for Homes, Industry, Agriculture, page 3SUMMARY The Lower Colorado River Basin is the fastest growing as well as the most arid region in the Nation. Its present population of more than 10 million is expected to triple in the next 40 years. Water has become the scarce resource. Surface waters are not adequate to sustain the existing developments. Ground water is being overdrafted at an alarming rate. These short-ages pose an immediate threat to a million acres of prime irrigated land in the central Arizona area, and an ultimate ceiling on urban and industrial growth. Additional water must be made available to forestall an economic decline that would have serious consequences not only in the Southwest, but ultimately throughout the Nation as a whole. Not only is the lower basin facing a severe water shortage crisis but within a few short years a similar crisis will confront the upper basin. The water needs of the Southwest and of the upper basin can be met. The Lower Colorado River Basin Project contains an initial core of projects to be authorized to meet the most immediate and pressing needs. It contains, further, the guide-lines necessary to develop a detailed comprehensive plan to provide the entire Colorado River Basin with sufficient water for the future. The plan would be fully integrated and coordinated with all State and local plans so as to capitalize on the concerted efforts of all agencies and the people in each affected State to overcome present water deficits and to proivide for future growth. The proposed Lower Colorado River Basin Project would authorize construction of the mainstream reservoir unit, consisting of Marble Canyon Dam, reservoir and powerplant, and a silt detention reservoir on Paria Creek. The Central Arizona Unit includes a system of conduits, canals, pumping plants, and storage facilities to provide Colorado River water to the Phoenix-Tucson area, and by exchange to other areas in the State. This unit includes Hooker Dam and its reservoir which would stabilize flows of the upper Gila River for downstream irrigation and provide municipal and industrial supplies in the Silver City and Tyrone areas of New Mexico. A mainstream water salvage program would include ground-water recovery and the control of water-wasting vegetation. The habitat for fish and wildlife would be protected. The establishment of a Lower Colorado River Basin development fund would provide a source of financial assistance for the future work to be undertaken. Revenues would accrue to the fund from the sale of water and from the sale of power from the proposed Marble Canyon Powerplant and from the existing Hoover and Parker-Davis Powerplants after those Federal projects have met their existing financial obligations. Through the operation of the development fund, project revenues would assure repayment of all reimbursable costs.Epson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 24 bit, 1,767,329 byte