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Show 198 WAR FOR THE COLORADO RIVER power along the canal had been given in its contract with the Federal Government. Large amounts of water destined for Mexico under the international treaty passed the Pilot Knob site, but the Bureau had refused to permit the building of a plant. The plant could not deprive any district, state or nation of water. It would merely let the water be used to develop badly needed power, and flow on to its destination.271 June 2, 1949 Murdock continued to insist that the Imperial Irri- gation District had some sinister scheme for depriving others of water, and he and Dowd engaged in an angry debate.272 June 3, 1949 In a highly technical paper, Engineer William S. Peterson, of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, presented evidence to show that unprecedented subsidies made the project truly a parasitical one.273 In the opinion of Clay C. Elder, hydrographic engi- neer of the Metropolitan Water District, by terming the project a "rescue project" the Reclamation Bureau was not being honest.274 One of the major claims of Arizona had been that its supply of underground water was vanishing. Arizona, however, had no law which regulated pumping of ground water, and speculators had taken advantage of the opportunity to mine it. Nature had blessed Arizona with an enormous under- ground reservoir of water. When relatively low-cost electric energy arrived the underground water could be economically pumped and used for irrigation. There- after, exploitation of it had boomed. |