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Show Chapter 6 Elements of a Plan for Full Development The Central Valley Basin is best considered in the light of its relations to the larger region of which it is a part. The valley dominates the State in several important ways, particularly through the amount and central location of its water resources. Further use of those resources can be planned effi- ciently only in terms of the potentialities, functions, and needs of California as a whole. Considered in this manner, the use of valley water resources assumes an important, if not an indis- pensable place among water resources programs in the United States. The already large population of the State, its environmental attractiveness, its first-rank strategic location, the presence of im- portant defense industries in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas, and the State's dominant posi- tion as a producer of minerals, forest products, fishery products, and specialized agricultural com- modities combine in raising California to a com- manding position in the national economy. California always will be faced with difficult problems because of inadequate water supplies in the most densely settled sections of the State. Cali- fornia's future therefore rests upon ingenuity and effort in bringing water to ever-demanding lands and cities. Basin plans, because they concern the heart of the State's water sources and the center of long-range distribution systems, give some important clues as to California's future. They are, of neces- sity, complex plans. They must be adapted to the already intensive development, and thread their way among the maze of established water rights, peculiarities of land holding and social structure, jurisdictional interests of localities, State, private, and Federal agencies, and conflicting views on ac- ceptable objectives of national policy. The elements of a plan here presented do not represent a final answer to all known problems nor a reconciliation of all conflicts recognized. There is, however, much of the future of California in them. Ultimate Objectives of the Plan A wide variety of elements enter into consider- ation of water resources developments in the Cen- tral Valley Basin. Nearly all of the purposes to- ward which they are directed enter Central Valley plans. Foremost among them, however, are irriga- tion, electric power generation, urban water supply, and flood control. Irrigation Irrigation agriculture is the basic economic activ- ity of the Central Valley and will continue to hold an important place, although increasing industrial development in the adjacent San Francisco and Los Angeles areas, and to a lesser extent in the Cen- tral Valley itself, is exerting an influence on the area. The long-range objective in the Central Valley is the full economic use of all irrigable lands in the basin. It would be desirable to increase the self- sufficiency of the area, particularly in milk and meat products, which presently are deficient. The Central Valley also raises many specialty crops, for which there is a relatively limited growing area throughout the Nation. Irrigation expansion includes three major phases: (a) maintenance and improvement of irrigation agriculture with supplemental water, especially in areas where ground water pumping exceeds natural replenishment, (b) increase of crop production by converting presently dry-farmed lands to irrigated lands, by which crop yields can be increased several 149 |
