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Show hazards, and reduce sediment damages, which may permit substantial revision of plans for engineering structures. Conclusions A basin-wide watershed management and land treatment program is needed and should be a part of a program to develop the water and land re- sources of the basin. It should be based on sound research. Existing land programs are not coordinated to eliminate duplication of effort, to integrate them with main stream engineering programs or with other economic programs in the Alabama-Coosa Basin. Coordination between local, State, and Federal agencies is needed in a program which has common objectives fitted to the needs and poten- tialities of the basin. The values to be gained from good land manage- ment, both for improved farm yields and farm in- come and for its watershed influence, require that increased emphasis should be placed on land pro- grams. Acceleration of these programs should accompany coordination of the activities of the separate agencies concerned. 3. Relationship of Federal to Non-Federal Power Development The Problem Physical integration of power generating and transmission facilities in the region. The Situation As on many of the coastal rivers of the Southeast, private power companies already have developed a part of the lowest cost hydroelectric power at the Fall Line. The limit of further private power re- source development that would be reached would be far short of the full potentials of the Alabama- Coosa River. The feasibility of further develop- ment will depend largely on low-cost financing. In the region south of the Tennessee Valley Au- thority power marketing area, power is supplied by the Southern Companies 4 from a balance of hydro- electric and steam plants with coordinated opera- tion through an extensive transmission system interconnected with the TVA system. The Ala- bama-Coosa, like other rivers in this region, is relatively undeveloped in all phases of water re- sources, including power. The aggregate potentialities for hydroelectric power in the Mobile Basin, as estimated by the Federal Power Commission, are: Ultimate installed capacity Average annual energy Alabama-Coosa River... Tombigbee River....... Kilowatts 1, 798, 000 777, 000 Kilowatt-hours 6,718,000,000 5, 031, 000, 000 Total Mobile Basin. 2, 575, 000 11,749,000,000 * The Southern Companies include Georgia Power Co., Alabama Power Co., Gulf Power Co., and Mississippi Power Co. Present installations total 490,000 kilowatts on the Alabama-Coosa River, of which the Allatoona Proj- ect with 74,000-kilowatt capacity is the only Federal project. Approved Federal plans for multiple- purpose projects in the Alabama-Coosa Basin in- clude possible ultimate total additional capacity of 1,308,000 kilowatts and reservoir capacity (8 mil- lion acre-feet) adequate to provide a high degree of water control and use. The above figures for the Tombigbee are not strictly comparable with those for the Alabama- Coosa since they are not based on detailed studies of physical and economic feasibility. The figures, however, serve to illustrate the magnitude of the total hydroelectric power that further studies may find practicable along the Tombigbee. Some of the projects within the over-all plan might be built by non-Federal agencies under Fed- eral regulation where such works would not inter- fere with the full effectiveness of the Federal pro- gram. At present no objections have been raised to Federal hydroelectric power plants and no ap- plications for license are pending with the Federal Power Commission. The present problem of integration involves the coordinated operation and improvement at the six private plants in the Alabama-Coosa Basin to fit into the expanding Federal program. This will involve, under Federal legislation, the sharing of benefits and costs in connection with greater use of the private power plants as a result of Federal reser- voirs. Another aspect of the problem of integration in- volves coordination of operation of the Federal 559 |