Pacific Southwest Water Plan - Draft of Report of Commissioner of Reclamation

Document: Pacific Southwest Water Plan, Draft of Report of Commissioner of Reclamation, December 20, 1963, page 44assistance from the Development Fund in the construction of future projects in the watersheds of origin, if such assistance is not otherwise provided; and (3) a guarantee that any additional costs of future projects, caused by the pre-emption of Lower-cost water sources which would benefit the watersheds of origin or the Central Valley of California or the State of California in its development of state water facilities, fisher & Steiver Suggestion CARR ConcuRS. would be offset by Development Fund revenues to the extent that the cost of water to the users would be no greater than if there had been no export under the Pacific Southwest Water Plan. 3. Agricultural Uses There is not enough water presently available to the region at economic cost to provide for an expansion of irrigated acreage, except on Indian reservations and limited areas having local water supplies available. However, because of the importance of agriculture to the region, a major objective is to augment the water supplies to maintain irrigated acreage as close as possible to present levels. Under the circumstances, it is contemplated that the authorizing legislation would require the Secretary of the Interior to take appropriate steps to insure that no new lands may be irrigated within service areas of units authorized under the Pacific Southwest Water Plan, except on Indian reservations, the Dixie unit, and the Moapa Valley pumping unit. While the suggested requirement to be included in the authorizing legislation is rather broad, the Secretary of the Interior should have flexibility in applying standards designed to control expansion of 44Epson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 24 bit, 2,553,125 byte