Memorandum Concerning Possible Alternative Plans for the Colorado

Memorandum: To Stewart Udall, from Asst Sect - Water & Power Development, "Possible alternative plans for the Colorado River Basin Project," October, 1966, page 10from the development fund would be extended to payout of the Central Arizona Unit. In others, the Central Arizona Unit would stand alone financially. It is assumed that the logical application of the surplus revenues of Hoover and Parker-Davis would provide for future water resource works in the Lower Colorado Basin. Analyses made on this basis will also be directly comparable to the various plans which hitherto have been considered. Those alternatives which do not otherwise provide any significant development fund balance will be analyzed both with and without assistance from Hoover-Parker-Davis revenues. Central Arizona Aqueduct capacity A variety of sizes for the Central Arizona Unit main aqueduct have been considered. The three most definitive capacities are 1,800, 2,500, and 3,800 cubic feet per second. The water available annually for diversion in the Lower Colorado River Basin will vary widely. The project plan is predicated upon the delivery of 1.2 million acre-feet of water to central Arizona annually. An aqueduct of 1,800 c. f. s. capacity, as was included in the Pacific Southwest Water Plan, is just sufficient to transport 1.2 million acre-feet when it is available in the river. However, without the assured augmentation of the Colorado River which was assumed in the Pacific Southwest Water Plan, less than 1.2 million acre-feet will be available for diversion to central Arizona in some years and 9Epson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 2,124,998 byte