OCR Text |
Show 206 UPDATING THE HOOVER DAM DOCUMENTS California Congressmen on the Subcommittee in favor of the bill. It was the first House Subcommittee action favorable to CAP since the project bill was introduced 20 years earlier (page 95, Nineteenth Annual Report of the Arizona Interstate Stream Commission). Major provisions of the bill as approved by the Subcommittee are as follows: (1) Investigations and Planning The Secretary of the Interior, in conformity with the principles, standards and procedures established by the National Water Resources Council, would be authorized to investigate sources of water to meet current and anticipated water requirements of the Southwest (Colorado River Basin plus portions of Kansas and Texas); to prepare reconnaissance reports on a staged plan to meet these requirements; and to prepare a feasibility report on the first stage of such plan. The first stage would provide importation of at least 2.5 million acre-feet annually into the mainstream of the Colorado River below Lee Ferry, and could include another 2 million acre-feet annually for use in the Lower Colorado River Basin, 2 million acre-feet annually for the Upper Basin, and 2 million acre-feet annually for use in areas enroute to the Colorado River system. (The increased scope and cost of the import program was considered by Arizona as a burden to passage of any CAP bill.) (2) Mexican Water Treaty Satisfaction of the requirements of the Mexican Water Treaty declared to be a National obligation. (3) Protection of Uses Existing mainstream users in Arizona, California and Nevada would be protected against shortages in the basic supply for consumptive use of 7.5 million acre-feet a year as against the Central Arizona Project, although California's protection would be limited to 4.4. million acre-feet per annum of consumptive use. The protection would cease when the President had proclaimed, among other things, that works had been completed and were in operation capable of delivering not less than 2.5 million acre-feet annually into the mainstream of the Colorado River below Lee Ferry from sources outside the drainage area of the Colorado River system. The quantity of imported water needed to bring the consumptive use from the mainstream in the Lower Basin up to the 7.5 million acre-feet a year would be made available at Colorado River prices. (4) Authorized Units Would authorize construction of the Central Arizona, Bridge Canyon and Marble Canyon units in the Lower Basin; and the Animas-La Plata, Dolores, Dallas Creek, West Divide, and San Miguel Federal reclamation projects in the Upper Basin. (This was contrary to the Administration's more limited position.) (5) Protection of Areas of Origin Would provide for adequate and equitable protection of the interests of the States and areas from which water would be exported to the Colorado River, including assistance from the development fund to be established by the Act, so that ultimate water requirements of the areas of origin could be satisfied at prices to users not adversely affected by the exportation. Would give areas of origin priority of right in perpetuity to the use of water as against the users supplied by the exportation works. This was a broader protective provision than previously advanced. (6) Lower Colorado River Basin Development Fund Would establish a fund into which would be deposited all appropriations and all project revenues including the power revenues from the Bridge Canyon and Marble Canyon Projects and from the Hoover, Davis and Parker Projects after these latter have paid out. The fund would be applied to repayment of the cost of the entire project including the cost of importation works. (7) Reimbursement of Upper Colorado River Basin Fund The Upper Colorado River Basin Fund would be reimbursed from the Colorado River Development Fund (established by the Boulder Canyon Project Adjustment Act) for all expenditures made or to be made from the former fund to meet deficiencies in power generation at Hoover Dam during the filling period of storage units of the Colorado River Storage Project. (8) Criteria for Long-Range Operation of Reservoirs The Secretary would promulgate equitable criteria for coordinated long-range operation of Colorado River Storage Project reservoirs and Lower Basin mainstream reservoirs, to follow specified orders of priority for storage in and releases from Lake Powell. |