OCR Text |
Show 2 AQUEDUCT NEAR SAN DIEGO, CALIF. reported to the Congress as required by section 312 (c) of the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921 (42 Stat. 26). On October 3, 1944, the President of the United States addressed a letter to the Assistant Commissioner, Bureau of Reclamation, designating him chairman of an interdepartmental committee to make a study, a report, and recommendations on methods of financing a proposed construction of facilities to transfer Colorado River water ta relieve a critical shortage in the city of San Diego, Calif., and nearby communities. Other members of the committee thus established were to be designated by the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Navy, the Administrator of the Federal Works Agency, and the San Diego County Water Authority. The President designated the Bureau of Reclamation as the construction agency for this work when authorized. This special committee made its investigation and submitted a report, which the President approved and transmitted to the United States Senate by a letter dated November 29, 1944 (S. Doc. No. 249, 78th Cong., 2d sess.). The findings of the committee may be summarized briefly as follows: That upon the entry of the United States into the war, large military organizations, training camps, and industrial plants were established in and around th'JB city of San Diego; that the extraordinary increase in population resulting from this activity placed a great strain on many community facilities, including the water supply; that should a drought ensue, the supply might be depleted by July 1947; that under such conditions, a firm supplement to the existing water supply was deemed necessary; and that because of the importance of its establishments and activities in the area and "their relation to the winning of the war in the Pacific," the Federal Government had a direct and vital interest in assuring, and an obligation to assure, a continued adequate water supply to its own establishments and to the local communities. The committee accordingly recommended the immediate construction by the Federal Government of an aqueduct connecting with the Colorado River aqueduct near San Jacinto, the cost of such work to be borne by the War, Department, the Navy Department, and the Federal Works Agency. Incident to such recommendation, it was determined by the committee that Federal participation in the project should be on a 100-percent basis; that the facilities were required as a result of Federal activities in connection with the prosecution of the war; that the development proposed was authorized by existing law, mention being made of the First War Powers Act of 1941, the Lanham Act, and the laws relating to Army and Navy construction and Army and Navy appropriation acts; that no additional legislation would be required to undertake the proposed construction during the war emergency; and that the Bureau of Yards and Docks, Navy Department, rather than the Bureau of Reclamation, should be the agency to undertake the emergency construction. By a letter dated December 6, 1944, the Chief, Bureau of Yards and Docks, Navy Department, advised the commandant, Eleventh N aval District, of the conclusions of said report and of its approval by the President. He stated that the estimated cost of the work was $17,500,000, which cost the committee had tentatively decided should be distributed among the participating agencies with the Army bear- |
Source |
Original book: [State of Arizona, complainant v. State of California, Palo Verde Irrigation District, Coachella Valley County Water District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, City of Los Angeles, California, City of San Diego, California, and County of San Diego, California, defendants, United States of America, State of Nevada, State of New Mexico, State of Utah, interveners] : California exhibits. |