Laserfiche WebLink
<br />"Out of this whole siLuation litigation started. One of the areas <br />which had one of the oldest water rights in the area, the Buckeye irri- <br />gation district, was not only being deprived of its water, but the quality <br />had been materially deteriorated, That situation has now been taken <br />care of by mediation proceedings, whereby this old district will be <br />furnished some fresh water, so-called, by the Salt River Water Users <br />Association. <br />"The point I want to make--and I want to make it strong--is that <br />there is trouble in central Arizona by this use and reuse. The water <br />which has been diverced a short distance above the troubled area, at <br />the mouth of the Salt River, is virgin water. I want you to get that: <br />Virgin water; nobody has used it before; it is water right out of the <br />mountains. But even the one or two times that it has been reused has <br />deteriorated the quality of it until the salt concentration is 3,000 parts <br />per million at the Bucl~eye heading. That condition cannot go on for- <br />ever. It would be the same as if a person contmued to eat and did not <br />eliminate; he would finally die. Some of these areas are going to die. <br />The Salt River area began to return water to the stream by pumping. <br />Somebody else took thaL return, is using it, is pumping it onto his <br />own area, and is giving some of it to the lower areas. The water is <br />getting to be of worse and worse quality, so somebody finally must <br />disgorge to return the salts to the stream, and that will constitute the <br />return flow that normally would come from that area. Such returns must <br />eventually come from that area, and in the absence of bringing in new <br />water, it will come by virtue of abandonment of lands which cannot <br />take the water of poorer quality. <br />"Let us go to this new water we are bringing into the area and see <br />what we have as compared with that situation. <br />"Senator McfARLAND. I want to quarrel with you a Uttle on that, <br />but I am going to let you complete your statement. <br />"Mr-,-T-fP'l'8N-;--A:!-I-right-;-RememtJertho.c-tlre-wa1ertl'iatat pre se nt <br />is being used in Phoenix--'lhe first use of it--is virgin water. The water <br />that will be used in central Arizona under these ultimate conditions that <br />we are trying to envision, which probably will never happen, will be <br />water that comes down from the upper basin and will have been used and <br />reused many times. <br />"The CHAIRMAN. You are assuming, now, these artificial works of <br />diversion? <br />"Mr. TIPTON. Oi;l, yes, sir; they must be built. <br />"The CHAIRMAN. That is what you express doubt aboutnas to <br />whether or not they will be? <br />"Mr. TIPTON. No; I am thinking of the over-all situation. I am <br />thinking, Senator, not only of this situation, where there will be only <br />1,500,000 acre-feet of water for Mexico remaining in the stream, but <br />also the question, Will the United States develop to the point where <br /> <br />-22- <br />