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<br />,-r <br /> <br />.' <br /> <br />governors of each of the seven basin states. In the case of California. <br />the two representatives are Myron Holburt. chief engineer of the Colo- <br />rado River Board. and John R. Teerink, director of the State Department <br />of Water Resources. <br /> <br />"Arizona officials have shown perhaps the greatest concern over <br />Brownell's negotiations with the Mexican government because the Central <br />Arizona Project has the lowest pricrity of water entitlement under the <br />'law of the river.." Holburt said. "However, the other basin states <br />could also be injured if the United States does not undertake the nec- <br />essary measures to prevent adverse impacts on the states." <br /> <br />"If the necessary public works aren't built and operated effec- <br />tively." he said. "Arizona wouldn't want to give up precious water for <br />releases downstream to improve salinity at the border. Nor would the <br />other states." <br /> <br />The committee has pointed out to Brownell and the Nixon administra- <br />tion and to Congressional representatives of the states that there are <br />many questions that remain to be answered. <br /> <br />Where will the electric power come from to operate the desalting <br />plant? And the 40,000 to 50.000 acre-feet of replacement water needed <br />to carry brine from the desalting plant to the Gulf of California? <br /> <br />"It would be foolish, too, to concern ourselves only with salinity <br />at the border while salt is building up slowly for nearly the entire <br />river north of Imperial Darn." Holburt said. <br /> <br />Three bills now in Congress, signed by all 14 senators and 35 rep- <br />resentatives of the Basin states, would authorize salinity control <br />projects in the Upper Basin to remove 400.000 tons of salt annually from <br />the river at a cost of some $135 million. The bills also authorize <br />feasibility reports on other projects to remove even more salt from the <br />1400-mile-long river. <br /> <br />The field trips to the Mexicali Valley by Brownell and his staff <br />are over. The closed-door negotiations with Mexican officials have <br />resulted in a highly significant new reading of the 1944 treaty. The <br />"good faith" plans to be laid before Congress call for relining the <br />Coachella Canal by 1976 and completion of the desalting plant and brine <br />disposal facilities of Wel1ton-Mohawk by July. 1978. <br /> <br />The "permanent. definitive" solution is on paper as a national <br />pledge to our neighbors south of the border. contingent on Congressional <br />appropriations. <br /> <br />But it's a pledge that remains of great concern to the water users <br />of the seven states. <br /> <br />Copied: CWCB/mm - 12/6/73 <br /> <br />-3- <br />