OCR Text |
Show State not only for the purpose of replacing the 700,000 acre-feet of water that must be released for use by others diverting from the Colorado River, but also for the purpose of supplying rapidly increasing domestic, municipal, and industrial requirements. Nevada is running short of water in the Las Vegas Basin area. It has been estimated that by the end of this century Nevada will have used all of the 300,000 acre-feet confirmed by the Supreme Court in Arizona v. California. Prior Attempts to Authorize a Central Arizona Project After several attempts by the State of Arizona to persuade the Congress to authorize a Central Arizona Project against stiff resistance by California interests, the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs of the House of Representatives in February, 1951 resolved that it would not consider further a Central Arizona Project until the rights to the use of Colorado River water in the Lower Basin were defined. This action by the Congress precipitated the Arizona v. California lawsuit that was decreed by the U. S. Supreme Court in 1963. Except for Subcommittee field hearings held in the autumn of 1964 in Phoenix, Arizona there were no hearings held by the House of Representatives on Bills to authorize a major lower Colorado River Basin project until August 23, 1965. Pacific Southwest Water Plan Immediately following the Supreme Court's decision in Arizona v. California legislation was introduced in the Congress by members of the Arizona Congressional delegation to authorize construction of the Central Arizona Project. The Secretary of the Interior in 1963 developed and proposed the Pacific Southwest Water Plan, a comprehensive Lower Basin plan, to authorize the Central Arizona Project, water desalting plants, water salvage works, importation of water into the Colorado River from sources outside the basin, the Southern Nevada Water Project*, and other features. After submission to the affected States for their comments the Pacific Southwest Water Plan was revised in January 1964. This plan, as such, never received the full approval of all seven states of the Basin for a variety of reasons peculiar to each State involved. Arizona-California Agreement in H. R. 4671 The pending Bill, H. R. 4671, to authorize the construction *The Congress authorized the construction of the Southern Nevada Water Project in the closing days of the 89th Congress. See P. L. 89-292. 47 |