Central Water for Central Arizona Project - Colorado River Water Key to the Future

Brochure: "Water for Arizona Project; Colorado River Water Key to the Future", 1961-1969, page 6RECREATION VALUES The Project will also develop extensive new recreation facilities on the Colorado River. These will bring substantial revenues to that area, and provide thousands of people with a new water playground. Present policy of the Bureau of Reclamation includes full development of such recreation facilities wherever practical in connection with water and power projects. It is true, of course, that there are millions of acres of lands in Arizona suitable for development through irrigation, but it would be a grave economic and social mistake to use large quantities of additional Colorado River water to develop new lands, when to do so means inevitable curtailment of the economy of presently developed areas. It is recognized, however, that some cities and towns outside the Central Arizona Project area, particularly in the northern counties, do have municipal water supply problems. If practical means can be developed for supplying water for municipal use to these cities and towns every effort should be made to do so. HOW ARIZONA GROWS 1950 1960 Population 749,500 1,300,000 Manufacturing $145,000,000 $ 700,000,000 Agriculture $279,000,000 $ 422,000,000 Federal Taxes Collected $ 74,822,000 $ 309,576,000 Personal Income $979,000,000 $2,650,000,000 Bank Deposits $471,669,000 $1,272,000,000 Retail Sales $777,000,000 $1,885,000,000 All of this growth was made possible by use and reuse of a very meager renewable supply of surface water, and by drawing heavily upon nonrenewable pumped groundwater. Water put to use from the Colorado River by means of the Central Arizona Project is essential to maintain the present economy of Arizona, but benefits extend beyond the State to the whole Southwest.Epson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 24 bit, 1,108,313 byte