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ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF WATER DEVELOPMENT 55 ing out of that organization was carried on by the same persons and by representatives of the " Associated Canal Companies/' water users from Utah Lake. The Articles were filed on December 11, 1935. Since then, until recently, this division of the Provo River Project has received comparatively little attention. This has been largely due to lack of cooperation among Utah Lake water users, the pending Utah Lake general adjudication suit and the fact that due to the pressing necessities of the Deer Creek Division beneficiaries the Bureau of Reclamation desired that division to be commenced first. The Utah Lake Division, however, ought to be constructed and doubtless will be. By means of it some 60,000 acre feet of water will be conserved at a cost relatively small. It seems probable that this work will receive a new impetus from the National Defense program. DISTRICT'S BOARD OF DIRECTORS EXAMINES ALL WATER SOURCES- OBTAINS SERVICES OF INDEPENDENT AUTHORITY During the first two years of the existence of the Metropolitan Water District proponents of various water projects other than the Provo River continued to urge the merits of the enterprises sponsored by them. The District's Board of Directors gave respectful and careful attention to all of these and sought as far as possible to keep an open mind until possessed of full information, and that information it obtained from all possible sources. Finally it seemed advisable to the Board to seek the advice of an " outside'' authority of high character and reputation; an authority from outside in order to minimize the effect of local self- interest, and of high charcter and reputation in order that the advice received would not only be entitled to but would receive public respect. To that end the Board commenced negotiations with a number of engineering firms of recognized and national standing in the field of water resources planning and development and ultimately fixed upon the firm of Al- vord, Burdick & Howson, of Chicago, an engineering firm which had performed similar services for the cities of Miami, Florida; Orlando, Florida; Cleveland, Ohio; Knoxville, Tennessee; Lansing, Michigan; Niagara Falls, NewT York; Bloomington, Illinois; La- Crosse, Wisconsin; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and numerous others, as well as the States of Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and New York. THE " BURDICK REPORT" This engineering firm, after a most thorough and exhaustive examination, consideration and analysis of all the possibilities, rendered its report on August 8, 1936. It covered the field of the 1928- 29 Water Advisory Board, of which City Engineer Harry Jessen was Chairman, and, in addition, other possibilities which in 1929 were not apparent as such. It had also other advantages. In 1929 the Provo River Project investigations were still under way and Mr. Larson's report was not made public until January of 1932. Then also. |
