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Show the combination ceases to be infused with a moral relationship between man and man, and man and nature, civilizations decline and give place to new combinations of these elementary values. The people will drink the water, use it on the land to grow crops, feel the destructive power of uncontrolled floods, learn to use water more intel- ligently to avoid destruction of the land. They will transport their bulk cargoes on the bosom of streams, perform a multiplicity of tasks with the aid of electric power generated by falling waters, utilize water in their industrial processes, resent its pollution, and enjoy the fishing, boating, swim- ming, and other forms of recreation offered by the clean waters of lakes, reservoirs, ponds, and streams. So it is the people that a Nation's water re- sources policy must be designed to serve. In a democracy such a policy is simply the way in which the people decide, through their local, State, and Federal governments, to utilize water for all these purposes. Natural Subdivisions River basins are the natural subdivisions of our water resources, and watersheds are the nat- ural units in these river basins. Therefore, water resources policy will tend to deal with the ways and means of deciding how best to preserve and utilize the resources of watersheds and river basins. People who live in these communities must learn to share in the cooperative application of sound policy to the development of water re- sources within the basin. From the pioneering days in which our Nation was born, people have thought in terms of the rivers that were so important in establishing the geographic, economic, and social characteristics of their culture. The many rivers of New Eng- land not only contributed to its beauty but turned the wheels of the country's earliest manufactur- ing plants. The rivers of the Middle Atlantic States not only energized their industries but car- ried increasing burdens of commerce. The rivers of the South Atlantic and Gulf areas carried commerce and wove themselves into the cultural life of the people. Among these, the Mississippi, with its great Missouri, Ohio, Ten- nessee, and Arkansas tributaries, served and gave character to the entire heart of the continent. Along its many waters, pioneers moved to build a continental nation. Farther west, where the country becomes more arid, the rivers have been vital sources of water, sustaining the development of agriculture and establishing the necessary foundation for the development of many States. Especially the three great basins of the West-the Columbia, Sacramento-San Joaquin, and Colorado-have become the fundamental sources of strength for rich regional cultures. New Problems With the development of the Nation in the great river valleys which gave form to regions, the relationship of people to rivers became more complex, raising new possibilities of use, new problems of conservation, and new necessities for controlling their water. The river made its con- tribution to a simple regional economy without asking elaborate programs or heavy investment. It was simply a matter of small dams for mechani- cal power in the headwater streams, piers for small boats wherever there was a pond, lake, or smooth reach of water, and docks for cargo and passenger ships in the lowefr reaches. Many rivers contributed significantly of their shad or salmon to the regional food supply. In the West, simple impoundments with extended systems of locally constructed gravity canals enabled the waters, contributed by melting snow on the mountains, to turn desert areas into prolific sources of foods and fibers. But as agriculture and water use developed with the rise of our city civilization, the need for watershed management became more appar- ent. The steady shift of farming from horse and mule power to tractor power, and the shift of land use from pasture to cropland, were ac- companied by a shift from natural to artificial fertilizers, adding to farm costs. At the same |