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=' C:.l - :.' ::'.1 ,- " .. . C. Western Re.source.s.:Wra.plip. 4AA *T H E DEN V ER P 0 S T Wed..Ma,12.1971 Water Study Results Questioned WAS H I N G T 0 N-W. Don authorized under the 1968 Call)- ses. any agency in history. It will eran Bureau engineer. ~Iaughan, director of the U.S. rado Rh'er Act. Indicating that Only now, !\faughan told the determine the amount of waler Reclamation Commissioner Water Resources Council, re- he is opposed 10 the committee congressional committees, is supplies available and the long- Ellis L. Armstrong bJld the cen!\y charged In testimony approach toward planning the the Council having an opportu. range warer requirements of Scnale Appropriations Commit. presented before the Senate and study that the Bureau has used. nity to look at the Bureau's 1972 the 1l states lying wholly or tee hearings on the 1972 budget House Appropriations Commit- ~1aughan said a select group of budget for continuing the West- partially West 01 the Continen- Illat the bureau is not dupJicnt- tees that "a quarter of billion experi('nced wa te r planners wide study, after the Bureau tal Divide. ing other studit's. The Westwlde dollars" has been spent on headed by the BUreau of Reela. has already asked Congress for Because of many diversions study "forms a reconnaissance water planning studies in the 11 mation and headquartered in $2,111,000 lor Westwide after out of the Colorado River into overview relating all water sup.. western states from 1965 to 1971 Denver should "invest a major July 1. other river basins, such as the ply studies in the 11 (Western) with questionable result.<;. Jlortlon of its time and lunding" Neverthel('ss, Maughan's crit. Missouri and the Rio Grande, stat('s to the system of project. Maughan said that the Colo- filling gaps in existing studies. jcism of the bureau in planning the impact of the study will be ed needs." rado River has been intensively M a ugh a n identified these the W('stwide study indicates immense. The plan finally developed by studied for years, "but w(' gaps as environmental factors, how much trouble Congress "The Wcstl'rn half of the the Bureau will "fill In the haven't learned anything new population growth, accelerated causes when it authorizes-as it United Slates will be involved chinks" which haven't brl'n on the Colorado since about rural development, possible has-Ihreeseparate federal in the study," P. p, Rama. covered to date and will 1955:' Then, he said, hydrologic reallocation of existing water ag('ncies, the council, the Na- towski, the representalive of provide for meeting the most data confirmed that the short- supplies in the West. He said liona! Water Commission and the U.S. Army Corps of Engi. urgent water nt>eds in the West age~ on the rlver were cyclical. very little time and money the bureau to do romprehensive neers designated to work with in the ye;lrs 1980, 2000 and 2020, Iy chronic. should be spent on "traditional studies on the same territory, the Bureau on the study, said. Armstrong said. In his congressional testlmo- studies of topography, geology, The Westwide study Is The Bureau set up a staff in The study is prohibited from ny ;o.faughan also took oft on hydrology, land classification, variously estimated to cost Denver last year to work on the considering diversions from the the Bureau of Reclamation's etc.," on which there are al- $16-$25 million. It is the biggest W('stwide study. It is headed by Columbia River Basin into the massive Westwide water 5tudy ready sufficient data and analy- water study ever undertaken by Wallace R. Christensen, a vet. Colorado River Basin. ...... .