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<br />Estimates of return flow to the lower Colorado River <br />below Boulder Dam have been made before. <br /> <br />Jacobs and Stevens, consulting engineers, in 1937 <br />estimated the return flow under two major assumptions. <br />I should like to read one paragraph out of the author- <br />ization of that report. On the first page of that <br />report, under authorization and scope, it says this <br />respecting authorization, and I quote from the letter <br />of the Acting Secretary of the Interior to the Secretary <br />of state, under date of september 2, 1937: <br /> <br />In your letter of June 22, 1937, you requested <br />this Department to designate two outstanding <br />engineers to prepare a confidential report on <br />the water supply of the Colorado River for your <br />guidance in negotiating a treaty with Mexico. <br />Arrangements have been made to designate Mr. <br />John C. Stevens, of portland, Oreg., and Mr. <br />Joseph Jacobs, of Seattle, Wash., for this pur- <br />pose. <br /> <br />I wanted to show who those gentlemen were to whom I <br />just referred. <br /> <br />Under assumption A, which involves full development <br />of all feasible projects on purely physical considera- <br />tions, except that California usage is based on her <br />adopted priorities, the return flow was estimated to be <br />1,198,000 acre-feet. Net desilting water was expected <br />to be 387,000 acre-feet in addition to the above. <br /> <br />Under assumption B. based on consideration of allo- <br />cations made to the upper and lower basins in the Colorado <br />River compact, the return flow was estimated as 900,000 <br />acre-feet, with an additional quantity of 347,000 acre- <br />feet from desilting water. <br /> <br />I want to say that those estimates are in fair accord <br />with the figures I submitted yesterday. <br /> <br />This most recent estimate was participated in by a <br />conference of well-known engineers from the Bureau of <br />Reclamation in the office of the International Boundary <br />Commission at El Paso, Tex., last month. At that time <br />it was indicated that a total return flow of 930,000 <br /> <br />-22- <br />