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<br />Here again the planning effort undoubtedly will be segregated initially
<br />by geographical areas and later combined into a general west wide plan,
<br />At this time I cannot tell you how we w ill proceed with development of
<br />plans for the Pacific Northwest, the Great Basin, the Central Valley, and
<br />the portions of the eleven western states east of the Continental Divide,
<br />After our meeting in January we should have some basic ideas but we
<br />may be feeling our way for some time, As to the Colorado River Basin,
<br />which is identified as a priority area for study in the Conference Report,
<br />we do have some general ideas as to augmentation studies to be pursued.
<br />There are four principal ways in which augmentation will be investigated
<br />-- desalting of sea or brackish water, weather modification, surface
<br />water imports from California streams, and water salvage measures. I
<br />would briefly like to outline these possibilities: Desaltinq of Sea Water
<br />-- Our Bureau in cooperation with the Atomic Energy Commission and the
<br />Office of Saline Water, has made preliminary studies of a nuclear-desalting
<br />complex on the California coast capable of producing over 2,000,000 acre-
<br />feet of desalted water annually as a means of a ugmenting the Colorado
<br />River. The desalted sea water would be conveyed through an aqueduct
<br />system 313 miles in length to Lake Mead where it could be thoroughly
<br />mixed with Colorado River water,
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<br />The desalting plant wouid be constructed in 3 stages, Installation would
<br />be scheduied in order to deliver 1,0 million acre-feet to Lake Mead in
<br />1990, and an additional 0,5 million acre-feet in the years 2000 and 2010,
<br />The related powerplant would have 7,229 megawatts of installed capacity,
<br />of which 902 megawatts would be required for project pumping, The
<br />remainder would be available for commercial sales and auxiliary standby,
<br />It was assumed that the nuclear-desalting complex would be a joint
<br />venture of Federal and non-Federal interests with the latter participating
<br />to the extent of financing and marketing the commercial power component,
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<br />The Federal governments share of the construction costs were estimated
<br />to be $2,784,000,000, which cons ists of $92 1,000,000 for the nuclear-
<br />desalting plant and pumping facilities, and $1,863,000,000 for the
<br />aqueduct system. Annual Federal operation, maintenance and replacement
<br />costs would total $48,910,000, The cost of water produced and delivered
<br />by these facilities was estimated to total $80 per acre-foot consisting of
<br />$50 for conveyance and $30 for the desalting process, The $80 figure is
<br />equivalent to a cost of 25 cents per 1,000 gallons,
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<br />These cost estimates, at least in part, were based on projected techniques
<br />for combined nuclear-desalting and thermal-electric generating plants,
<br />It was also assumed that fast breeder nuclear reactors will be developed
<br />by 1995, Such reactors would increase the fuel use efficiency and
<br />result in low fuel cycle costs, low cost heat, power, and water.
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