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Financing desirable projects is a major problem that requires resolution and while it is difficult and may r!')quire that special legis - lation be enacted, it is a problem that can be and will be solved. In the lower Colorado River Basin, as in all of the other river basins in the arid West, the less -costly and easy-to-construct projects have already been constructed, There are many other worthy and neces- sary projects, however, which must have financial assistance from some source in order to insure their development, Precedent has been estab- lished for the assignment of power revenues from existing and potential power developments to the repayment of the reimbursable irrigation obligations which are beyond the water users' capacity. The basin ac- count principle has been established and is in use in the Ur:>per Basin and elsewhere. Revenues from a whole system of powerplants and par- ticipating projects are pooled in a basin-wide account which provides the necessary financing primarily through the utilization of surplus revenues from power development as the paying partner. The ultimate development of the water resources in the Lower, Colorado River Basin will require the type of assistance that could be furnished by a basin account. These matters, of course, require con- siderable study and cooperative effort as well as legislative action before they can be achieved. Weare confident that, the problems of financing will be solved and the continued development of the Lower Colorado River Basin assured, Advance planning studies in the Ur:>per Colorado River Basin are now being carried out on five authorized participating projects and on the Crystal Dam facilities of the Curecanti Unit. As you know, these studies will lead to Definite Plan Reports on the participating projects, and an economic feasibility report on the Crystal facilities. These are the last reports prepared prior to requesting construction funds from the Congress. , .i The foreword of the Bureau's 1946 R~port on the Colorado River Basin recognized that ili the preceding two d'ecades the river had moved from its status as a "natural menace" to a recognized national resource. "Tomorrow, " the report stated, "the Colorado will be utilized to the very last drop. . . . Here is a job so great, in its possibilities that only a nation of free people have the vision to know that it can be done and that it must be done. The Colorado River is the~r heritage. II Today we stand at the crossroads of ,development of a great river basin. Active authorized construction in the partially developed lower basin has reached a plateau, Construction is proceeding at a fast pace in the initial stage of the upper basin development, but the vitally important second - 26 - I I I