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Turbine gallery in the Hoover Dam power plant. water released at Hoover Dam. The charge for Lake Mead's water is nominal, 25 cents per acre. foot of 325,851 gallons. According to the chief engineer and general manager of the Metropolitan Water District, the aqueduct provides a supply of water "sufficient to meet the requirements of a population in excess of 7,000,000." The above statement was made in 1941, at a time when the southern Cali. fornia metropolitan region was on the threshold of its greatest era of expan- sion. According to the 1940 census, 2,041,371 persons resided in the cities of the metropolitan water district. Five years later, in 1945, it was estimated that the over-all population had increased to 2,435,000 or nearly 20 percent. 40 n 1.772 At the same time great industrial expansion had been effected. All of this rapid gro.....th was predicated on the availability of a dependable domestic water supply. Although the constituent cities of the Metropolitan Water DistIict are by no means utilizing the maximum capacity of the Colorado River Aqueduct, still the use of Colorado water has been increasing steadily. In the fiscal year July I, 1944, to June 30, 1945, Laguna Beach, Santa Ana, Santa ~fonica~ and Anaheim relied almost wholly upon Colorado River water. Beverly Hills, Fullerton, Long Beach, and Pasadena took water in amounts of 34, 19, 19, 25, and 10 percent respectively of their total consumption, and Burbank, Los Angeles, and Torrence were "on the line" to augment their other sources of supply, In addition to these deliveries to the district's member cities. Colorado River water was delivered to Camp Haan and March Field, near Riverside, Calif., and also to several desert training centers in California. It was at these desert camps that Lieutenant General Patton's famous Third Army received its basic training in preparation for its rigorous desert campaigns in North Africa. Delivery of Colorado River water to these military in. stallations was possible wholly as a result of river control afforded by Hoover Dam. San Diego is still another city in southern California which is benefiting from Colorado River development. This city, like its neighbors to the north, was confronted wth a vexing domestic water problem. In the 1920's and 30's San Diego citizens had envisioned that in future decades it would be necessary to augment present sources of water supply. Consequently, action was taken to insure that when the time came Colorado River water would be available by legal right. The coming of W orId War II gave tremendous impetus to the develop- ment of San Diego, and by 1944 the city was actually at the doorstep of serious domestic water shortages. In November of that year, taking ad. vantage of surveys which were being made by the Bureau of Reclamation, the late President Franklin D. Roosevelt directed the Bureau to locate, prepare designs and specifications for, and act as consultants on a 70.mile aqueduct to be built by the Navy's Bureau of Yards and Docks. This aqueduct would solve the serious watel' emergency which was threatening the San Diego area. The San Diego Aqueduct was completed late in 1947. It taps the Metro. politan Water District's aqueduct at the mouth of the San Jacinto tunnel and delivers it to San Diego's San Vincente Reservoir. And thus today the entire coastal region, from San Diego to Los Angeles, is reaping rich benefits which stem from the construction of Hoover Dam. The Silt Menace Heduced A fourth benefit of Hoover Dam is the elimination of hundreds of millions of tons of silt from the waters released at Hoover Dam. 4J