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Show 399 require that the stream and its branches from sources to mouth should be regarded as essentially a unit. National Waterways Commission.-Noteworthy also is the 1912 Final Report of the National Waterways Commis- sion.48 Created by act of Congress and composed of 12 Con- gressmen, this Commission had been assigned the duty of in- vestigating "questions pertaining to water transportation and the improvement of waterways."49 In its 1910 Preliminary Report, this Commission had already emphasized the need for consideration of multiple uses in planning navigation improve- ments, recommending "greatest care in the conservation of water power for the use of the people." 50 And in its Final Report, the Commission pointed out the need for a compre- hensive, storage-reservoir system to be utilized simultaneously for flood prevention, navigation, and power development.51 48 Sen. Doc. No. 469,62d Cong., 2d sess. (1912). 49 Act of March 3, 1909, § 7, 35 Stat. 815, 818. See also Act of February 27, 1911, § 4, 36 Stat. 933, 956, extending the Commission's life from March 4, 1911 to November 4, 1911, and requiring it to conduct certain additional special investigations. The Senate had earlier sought unsuccessfully to continue it for two years. H. Rep. No. 1488, 61st Cong., 2d sess., pp. 10, 17 (1910). 80 Sen. Doc. No. 469, App. I, pp. 82,85. 51 Sen. Doc. No. 469, pp. 22-28. "A reservoir system, in order to be. utilized simultaneously for flood prevention, aiding navigation, and power develop- ment, must be controlled or operated by some public authority. * * * Thus far the improvement of rivers in this country, except in the arid regions, has been almost solely for the purpose of navigation. The other purposes have been almost entirely disregarded. The position of the Corps of Engineers, who have supervision over river improvements has been that an increased depth of a stream for navigation could be secured much more cheaply by the use of dams, diverting walls, and other devices than by constructing reservoirs at headwaters, and in this view the engineers have in general been right, particularly when it is recalled that the existing or prospective commerce on few of our streams has justified extensive expenditures for this purpose, and only on a comparatively few streams do suitable reservoir sites exist. When, however, the improvement of a stream is considered from the standpoint of all its beneficial uses, as well as the prevention of damage by floods, the policy of constructing reser- voirs may become, in particular cases, more feasible. The combined bene- fits from flood prevention, from additional power development, and from a more uniform flow of the stream may warrant the adoption of a system of reservoirs which, if intended for any one of these purposes alone, would not be practicable." Id. pp. 24-25; see also p. 174. 911611-51------27 |