WSP10526

• File Number: 8210.110.60
• Description: Colorado River Water Users Association
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Date: 12/6/1962
• Author: CRWUA
• Title: Proceedings of the 19th Annual Conference
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Annual Report

I

I

I

we must give equal and probably more urgent consideration to municipal and
industrial water requirements and other needs resulting from the population
surge,

I

For example, the original report indicated only 12,000 acre-feet of
water, or less than one percent of the total water supply contemplated, was
assigned to municipal and industrial purposes--and all of that to Tucson. The
current appraisal estimates that over 300,000 acre-feet ultimately should be
assigned to municipal and industrial purposes for the metropolitan areas of
Phoenix and Tucson, The combined population of these two cities may be. ex-
pected to reach four million by the end of the 50-year project repayment period,
according to Census projection,

I

I
I
I

Like Arizona, California desert areas also have additional needs .for
water. Studies are underway to determine if additional municipal and indust-
rial water can be supplied, There should be an Inland Basins study to deter-
mine what can be done to take care of water supply problems, resulting from
population expansion into these desert areas.

I

Some additional water .can be made available in Califor.nia by the simple
expedient of lining canals, including the All-American and Coachella, to
reduce excessive seepage, The continuingexpan~ion pi ua;ban areas of south-
ern California into agricultural lands may actua:lly save some water, for it is
an established fact that no more water on the average is required for an acre of
mankind than is needed for an acre of crops,

I

Another potential, and one in which I am convinced we are moving toward
a breakthrough, is the economic purification of saline and brackish water '. The
distillation plant of the Department of the Interior's Office of Saline Water at
San Diego is now producing a million gallons of potable water a day at a cost
of about $1. 25 per thousand gallons. The Department is devoting great time
and energy to move ahead as expeditiously as possible with the saline water
conservation program,

I

I
I

In surveying the future, we also must not overlook the possibility of in-
duced precipitation to bring a heavier blanket of snow in Mother Nature's
storage areas, the high Rockies, and transportation of water.

I

We will be placing in operation within the next several months the first
stages of the Trinity River division of the Central Valley Project in California.
This will bring surplus water from a northern California stream into the
Central Valley, and the California State Water Plan is moving water from the
Central Valley into the southern part of the state.

I

We have demonstrated repeatedly the engineering feasibility of moving
vast quantities of water great distances. The nub of the problem is economic
feasibility which depends on the value of the water according to its use as
balanced against what it costs to deliver it.

I

I

Thus, our look into the future gets around to that common major problem
of all resources development work- - justification and financing of construction
and operating costs, This, plus the fundamental decision as to whether the
lower river will be developed and operated in a comprehensive, coordinated
manner, are problems which must be faced up to immediately, even though

I

I

- 9 -

~""~