OCR Text |
Show WATER FOR UTAH ment of the Upper Colorado can be made possible in the interest of all water- contributing states in that drainage area. The cumulative advantages thus gained to all of the Upper Colorado Basin will permit a certain amount of diversion from the Colorado and Green Rivers into the Bonneville Basin in Utah. This can be done without impairing ability to meet compact obligations at Lee Ferry. The principle of maximum benefits to be derived from the use of water clearly urges such diversion to the Bonneville Basin. Each acre- foot can thereby be made to provide greater values than are possible without diversion. The greater values of crops thus made possible, the expansion of industries and the sale of electrical energy - all these will redound to the economic betterment of Utah and will strengthen the economy of neighboring states. The plans of Utah, developed by its own agencies in harmonious collaboration with departments of the Federal Government, are admittedly bold. Nothing less would suffice to meet the challenges ahead. In general, they involve a long- range program of storage, diversions and exchanges of water, together with the generation and transmission of hydroelectric power, in the Bear River, Weber River, Virgin River and Central Utah areas. Most important, and of the greatest magnitude, would be those projects involving primarily the Colorado and Green Rivers. Great storage reservoirs on both of these rivers would provide the regulation required to guarantee maximum utilization of water in the entire basin within compact delivery terms. Other control works on the Green River would make it possible to divert a certain portion of the river's flow into the Bonneville Basin by a combination of transfers and exchanges within the Central Utah area. These complex plans- involving the construction of large dams, tunnels, canals, power houses and high- capacity transmission networks- cannot be accomplished in a short span of years. The job ahead is immense, but it must be started now to be of greatest use to future generations of Westerners and their migrating neighbors from the East, the Middlewest and the South. The expenditures required will be more than reimbursed by direct and indirect returns, by the creation of taxable wealth and by the employment of thousands. This has been demonstrated over and over again in the major western development projects so far undertaken. As reservoir areas become filled, and as the turbines of new hydroelectric power plants smoothly pour their generated energy into a vast transmission network, the full flowering of Utah's agriculture and industry can be realized and made a part of the growth of the West and of the Nation. [ 12] |