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Show 126 DIXIE PROJECT, UTAH voir, would, in fact, be a part of the Dixie project plan. While no project works are contemplated outside of Washington County, it is provided that the water stored in the now existing Kolob Reservoir located on the upper headwaters of the Virgin River will upon completion of the Dixie project be made available to Cedar City and other interests in Iron County. We now see the wisdom of this agreement since it will provide additional water to Cedar City and also unifies Iron County support for the Dixie project now being proposed in the Washington County area. I am attaching for your reference the full text of the agreement, dated August 25, 1953, by the interests in Iron and Washington Counties. In addition the Utah Water & Power Board holds water right filings which provide for the construction of the Dixie project. These filings, Nos. 9127, 11929, and 34030 have priorities dating back as early as 1922- many years before any development on the lower Colorado. These filings are held by the board in trust for this project and will at the appropriate time be transferred to the United States in order that the project can fully comply with State water law and provide the United States with the title to valid water rights for the project. The Utah Water & Power Board as an agency of the State of Utah has expended in excess of $ 71,000 in defending the rights of this project. The State became an intervenor in the litigation between Arizona and California over the use of water in the lower Colorado. On behalf of the board, I urge your special consideration of the many merits of this project. Desperately needed domestic water for Cedar City and St. George will be supplied by the Dixie project. The project will stabilize agriculture and will provide a recreation facility adjacent to Zion National Park, one of our great national attractions. Having just visited Lake Powell, another reclamation lake now forming behind Glen Canyon Dam, I am in a better position to appraise recreational values that the Dixie project will create. The lake this project will make on the Virgin River will complement the natural beauties of the area, improve recreational facilities and enhance Zion National Park. In conclusion, I should like to leave with you a resolution passed by the Utah Water & Power Board and to emphasize that the board gives its full support to the project. RESOLUTION OF UTAH WATER & POWER BOARD, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, JUNE 19, 1964 Whereas the Utah Water & Power Board has the duty and responsibility to make plans, studies, and investigations to insure maximum development of water and power resources of the State of Utah; and Whereas Utah is entitled to an equitable portion of the water of the Virgin River system, a tributary of the lower Colorado River, and the Dixie project provides the only means by which this water can be placed to beneficial use in Utah; and Whereas this project would be of substantial benefit to the State of Utah and, while the residents of this area have diligently sought to perfect this project, it is of such magnitude that Federal assistance is required to accomplish this development; and Whereas the construction of the Dixie project on the Virgin River would result not only in benefits from irrigation, power, recreation, and flood control in the Virgin River Basin, but would also benefit the Lower Colorado River Basin as a whole as a silt control project; and Whereas this board has on various occasions adopted resolutions favoring the development of this project: Now, therefore, be it |
