WSP08576 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

,. , . ", ~AYMOND R. RUMMONCS VIRGIL L. JONES CHAIR..AN ANt' COI.OIIADO RIYIII CO....I!l..IOHI!:II CO",CHILLA VJlI.LE1' COUHYY WATII;IIDIITIIICT PALO VI!:ADII: IRIIIGATION D.,TlIleT 2~ .,,.. .&. .:H) SAMUEL B. NELSON FRED W. SIMPSON Dt:.......T..EHT 01'" WATER "ND POWER. CITY OF LOI ANGltLl:1 SA'" DIEGO WATER AUTHORITY JOSEPH 0, MOORE JOSEPH JENSEN THE MI!:TROPO~ITAN WATE" DISTllIeT 01' SOUTtlERN CAL1FOIIHIA .....EIII..1.. IIIRla"TIOH OIITIOIICT DALLAS E. COLE HAROLD F. PELLEGRIN S"TA"TE OF CAUFORNIA eH'E!' ENGINEER EXECUTIVE SI!:C;RET..IIT Colorado ~iver Board of California 908 60UTH BROADWAY LOS ANGELES 90015 Febnlary 27, 1967 HONORABLE RONALD REAGAN Governor of California State Capitol Sacramento, California DEAR GOVERNOR REAGAN: I am pleased to submit to you and the Legislature the annual report covering the activities of the Colorado River Board during the fiscal year ending June 30, ]966, and summarizing Colorado River hydrologic data through the water year ending September 30, ] 966. A major achievement during the year was substantial agreement among the seven Colorado River Basin states on federal legislation on the Colorado River. This was the first time in more than 40 years that the seven states were able to unite in a common approach to basin problems. The Colorado River Basin Project bilt (H.R. '1-671) ,vnich was approved by the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs in July] 966 would have authorized needed in-basin projects and contained also the essential clements of (I) protection of existing uses against new Lower Basin uses, (2) investigation of sources of supply to augment the flow of Colorado River, (3) protection of areas of origin of surplus water and (4) establishment of a regional development fund to finance the regional plan. U nfortunate1y, oppo- sition to the bill by special interests and by states outside the basin made it unlikely that the measure could pass the House with all the major clements agreed to by the seven states, and as a result the bill was not reported out by the Rules Committee during the Eighty-Ninth Congress. Disappointed and frustrated, numerous leaders in Arizona disclaimed further interest in cooperative interstate effort; this, coupled with other discouraging attitudes and events, slowed the momentum of the seven-state movement. Consequently, instead of one bill a number of dissimilar bills for a Colorado River Basin project have been introduced in the Ninetieth Congress. For this reason the Board in cooperation with other State interests must exert even gteater effort to re-establish seven-state unity and to urge passage of a bill that will include effe ctive guarantees for existing projects now serving 10,000,000 people in California and that will provide for prompt, thorough and competent studies of ways to augment the overburdened Colorado River. In these trying times the Board is especially appreciative of the spirit of your telegram of February 10, ]967, to Senator Thomas Kuchel, endorsing the principles of his proposed bill (now S. 86]). As one of your delegates on the \Vestern States IVater Council, I was pleased to participate in its first full year of activities. I am hopeful that in the current year the council will approve principles, standards, guidelines aud procedures for orderly westwide regional development of water resources. Federal agencies in cooperation with the affected states arc initiating a limited water resources investi- 3