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<br />002519 <br /> <br />SUMMARY <br /> <br />The Pacific Southwest is the Nation's fastest growing and driest <br />region. Its present population of 11 million is expected to triple in <br />tbe next 40 years. After the people themselves, water is its most <br />precious resource. Water supplies within the region are inadequate <br />to sustain the development that already exists. They cannot, under <br />any circumstances, provide for future growth. Further, ground-water <br />supplies are being overdrafted at an alarming rate. Unless additional <br />water is made avaiIable, the economy of the region wiIl decline, with <br />serious consequences not only to the immediate region, but to the <br />Nation. How, as a Nation, we cope with this water crisis wilI be a <br />severe test of our democratic processes. <br /> <br />The water needs of the entire region, both present and future, <br />can be met, and the necessary projects can pay their own way within <br />the traditional payout period for water projects. The California State <br />Water Project already indicates what can be accomplished by State <br />initiative, and any future water plans for the region should be fully <br />integrated with such State plans, for it wiII take a concerted effort <br />of FederaI, State, and local agenciesnas well as tie advantages of <br />the regional approach--to adequately meet the water needs of the entire <br />region. This report is an attempt to bring some of the elements of <br />long-range planning into focus. <br /> <br />The Supreme Court's eventual decree in the case Arizona v. <br />California, et al., will not increase the water supply of the area. <br />It will, however, if it remains substantially unchanged, resolve the <br />entitlements of the several States to Colorado River water in the <br />lOWEr basin so long as the main stream suppIy available for consumptive <br />use is at least 7.5 million acre-feet. The Court did not, however, <br />define the entitlements of the separate States in the event of a lesser <br />supply than 7.5 million acre-feet. <br /> <br />Arizona urgently needs more water, without which it will face a <br />slowIy withering economy as the ground-water bank account shrinks. <br />Southern CaIifornia, as a result of the Supreme Court opinion, will <br />have to curtail it.s Colorado River diversions. Western New Mexico <br />needs upstream water conservation and control facilities to expand <br />its historicaIIy water-restricted economy. Southern Nevada requires <br />additionaI W8.ter to pro',ide for its phenomenal popuIation growth. <br />Southern Utah needs water conservation and contra I facilities to over- <br />came seasonal shortages of surface water. <br /> <br />I <br />