OCR Text |
Show (g) Maintenance of environmental quality will be given high priority in planning for the future. (h) Only general consideration will be given to cost-repayment capacity relationships for selection of a plan of water and land development. The plan will be based essentially upon the reasoned judgment of competent planners. (i) Importation of desalted sea water to the Region can be con- sidered a potential source of supply. (j) In the Lower Colorado Region, Section 605 of Public Law 90-537 (Colorado River Basin Project Act) states that "Part I of the Federal Power Act (kl Stat. 1063; 16 USC 791a-823) shall not be applicable to the reaches of the main stream of the Colorado River between Hoover Dam and Glen Canyon Dam until and unless otherwise provided by Congress." Public Law 90-537 also pro- hibits construction of hydroelectric plants as part of the Colorado River Basin Project. COOPERATING AGENCIES To adequately cover all technical aspects of this comprehensive study and to enlist the viewpoints of Federal, state, and local inter- ests, many agencies, institutions, and organizations contributed to the studies. Federal, state, and local agencies and organizations exchanged information and coordinated their work directly among themselves. Peri- odic joint meetings of the cooperating agencies were conducted at field level to review findings and to exchange data and views. METHOD OF APPROACH For the purpose of this study, the Lower Colorado Region was divided into three hydrologically delineated subregions and to accommodate the socio-economic statistical analyses, the Region and subregions were extended to the closest fitting political boundaries. The latter delinea- tions were designated the "economic region" and the "economic subregions" and all population and economic data are presented on that basis, unless otherwise noted. All projections of water related socio-economic factors were adjusted to represent the designated hydrologic areas. Investigations were first conducted by subregions. These subregional studies were then coordinated, interrelated, and combined to determine the overall program for the Lower Colorado Region. |