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Show WATER FOR UTAH ... Water ... The Base for the State's Future . . . It has long been recognized that the inadequacy of water and power supplies in Utah - for agriculture, for industry, for domestic and community consumption - has retarded the State's economic growth. Shortages of water and hydroelectric power are the principal impediments to the full realization of the other potentials of Utah - the full use of its arable lands, the wide and diversified use of its industrial raw materials, the unrestricted development of its communities. Therefore, the problem of securing additional sources of water and power supplies has received considerable attention in past years by Utah's own agencies and those of the Federal government. Consequently, large and comprehensive plans have been prepared for the capturing of life- giving waters in the mountainous areas of the State, for their storage and conservation in large reservoirs, and for their transportation and diversion by canals and tunnels to those areas in Utah where greatest benefit can be derived for the people of the State and adjacent areas. ... Big Plans Are Necessary ... The job of planning the major engineering works entailed in the ultimate over- all plan, of balancing costs against potential benefits, has been a stupendous one and has taken many years. That of building the many requisite projects will be an even greater one. But difficult and bold as these plans may be, they are urgently necessary and must be instituted without delay to permit normal growth of Utah and to fulfill the reaJ promises which its other resources provide for the State, the West and for the Nation. ... Maximum Benefits to All... In simplest terms, the ultimate plan for the full utilization of the State's water resources involves consideration for maximum benefit to each of the major basins. Therefore for some basins which with even complete development of self- contained water supplies will still suffer from deficiencies, the plan proposes large- scale diversions from other basins in which there exist surpluses - surpluses in terms of maximum possible useage and benefits. In so diverting these waters, the plan must provide for recognition of compact obligation and as a matter of fact, is so conceived as to ensure meeting them by including, in an integral manner, major storage reservoirs on the main stem and major tributaries of the Colorado River. The consequent storage - which could not be secured except primarily in Utah, and to some extent in Colorado - will permit upstream areas to use the waters flowing through and from them to maximum extent. The production of hydroelectric power - in major proportion at these storage sites - and its sale principally to Utah markets will make possible the collection of large revenues for the repayment of costs for a major portion of the entire plan, the remainder to be secured by payments from direct water users and to be allocated to flood control, recreation and other beneficial uses. Both these water and power supply projects will stimulate and bulwark the economy of the State of Utah and will reinforce its ability to share the development costs of the water resources of the entire Upper Colorado River Basin. The geographic areas in which this over- all plan is naturally subdivided are : ( See Map 23 - Potential Irrigation Project Areas and Principal Drainage Basins - page 103.) 1. The Bear River area - the boundaries of which are the same as the Bear River Drainage Basin; 2. The Weber River area - which includes Weber, Davis, Morgan and Summit Counties; 3. The Central Utah area - which includes most of the Green River Drainage Basin, the Sevier River Drainage Basin, and Utah, Tooele and Salt Lake Counties in the Weber River- Utah Lake Drainage Basin; 4. The Virgin River area - which is the same as the Virgin River Drainage Basin; [ 102] |