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Show XHE FUXORE What do you do with a great river which is the lifeline for the arid half of a country? First, you treasure, regulate, and husband what it holds. Then you plan the future for that water as carefully as King Midas counted his gold. The tremendous basin of the Colorado River is divided into an Upper Basin and Lower Basin. The four- State Upper Basin contains the Colorado River Storage Project. The Lower Basin holds famed Hoover Dam and Lake Mead- serving California, Arizona, and Nevada. It also holds other significant water projects, but needs further development to utilize its allotted share of Colorado River water. This additional development is essential to its future. Why does the Lower Basin need more water now? Because the population explosion in the Lower Basin States during the past 15 years has been phenomenal. The population has doubled and doubled again- and this growth rate is expected to continue. This is why further water development is needed now. To supply the means to bring more water to more people. Not for convenience, but out of necessity. Construction of these new water supply and delivery works will be expensive. But basic to Reclamation's policy- contrary to many other Federal programs- is payback to the United States Treasury for construction costs. Sale of water alone cannot do it. But sale of power- generated by that water- is the traditional congressionally endorsed means of achieving balance. And that is the " why" for consideration of Bridge Canyon Dam and construction of Marble Canyon Dam- as proposed to the Congress. These dams are cash registers. They will ring up sales of electric power produced by Colorado River water. Is hydroelectric power obsolete? Can nuclear or coal- fired energy spin the generators more cheaply? These questions represent confused concepts. Hydropower is unique in that it is the only power system which can be started and stopped at the flick of a switch. It can supply power instantly on demand. This is " peaking" power- champing at the bit and ready for use at those times of day when the demand is heavy. Integration of Federal hydropower and steam- generation plants of others has been the practical solution for many years. It will continue to be. page 27 |