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Show Chapter 1 Regional Development HOW WELL EACH of the great regions of the United States will serve the American people by providing a sustained yield of basic resources depends in large measure upon the policy which the Nation pursues in developing its rivers, large and small. In the end, the measure of success or failure of that policy must be in the quality of human life which it promotes. The curbing of flood peaks behind the monolithic bulk of con- crete dams, the green extent of fruitful irrigated acres, the pulsing current of electric transmission lines, the tranquil movement of barge traffic on regulated streams, and the secure flow of clean water to busy cities, all these are incidental to building stable, productive communities which make the most of the distinctive regional resources without being profligate with nature or injurious to the basic rights inherent in the democratic process. It is to the life and spirit of these com- munities that we must look for the final test of the Tightness of the policies adopted by the Nation as a whole. In recommending a course of Federal and State action in dealing with the country's water resources, the Commission constantly sought to look into the needs of each region and to examine the possible effects of proposed policies upon the communities of specific regions. This was done by studying 10 river basins selected for diver- sity in size, hydrology, economic needs, and water development possibilities. The basins se- lected were the Columbia, Central Valley of California, Colorado, Rio Grande, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Alabama-Coosa, Potomac, and Connecticut. For each of these basins, representing all of the major sections of the United States, the interested Federal agencies were asked to pool their infor- mation and experience in stating the problems of the basin and in suggesting the outlines of a pro- gram which might be expected to contribute most helpfully to its future development. In these cooperative appraisals the Commission brought to bear all of the accumulated findings of hun- dreds of State and Federal surveys. From them have come a series of 10 portraits, which are printed in volume 2. The Commission used these basin portraits in two ways. First, it drew from them an under- standing of those policy questions which are most likely to be troublesome or significant in the future. Second, it reviewed its tentative sug- gestions as to national policy from the standpoint of their probable effects upon the future of specific basins. Only as Federal action is seen in the light of its influence upon the economy or physical face of a particular area can it be assessed wisely. Because the Commission believes that consideration of these programs has been useful in connection with policy formulation, it is pre- senting, in this chapter, summaries of four of the basin programs. The cooperative basin studies have served still another purpose. They have shown the possi- bility of bringing together many agencies to agree upon the important elements of a single program 19 |