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<br />CHAPTER V <br /> <br />THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE COLORADO RIVER <br />AND THE LAW OF THE RIVER 1969 TO PRESENT <br /> <br />Introduction <br /> <br />After the passage of the 1968 CRBP A, Arizona partied. Its dream of moving Colorado River <br />water from the mainstem to central Arizona was about to become a reality. <br /> <br />The authorization of the CAP may have happened at the very last moment possible. The <br />nation was changing rapidly in 1968. It was the year of the Tet offensive. The year President <br />Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated. <br />There wl~re riots outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. On December 24, 1968 <br />Apollo 8: first orbited the moon. <br /> <br />The nation's political appetite for large federally subsidized water projects was waning. From <br />the late 60s through the mid 70s, Congress would pass or strengthen a nwnber of federal <br />environmental laws, including the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Endangered <br />Species Act (ESA), the Clean Water Act, the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act and the Safe Drinking <br />Water Act. In 1970, by executive order, President Nixon created the Environmental Protection <br />Agency or EP Al31 <br /> <br />Sometime in the late 1960s, Mother Nature also made another shift. The generally dry period <br />in the Colorado River Basin that began about 1930 was about to end. For the next 25 to 30 years, the <br />Basin generally saw abundant moisture. There would be dry years, 1977 and 1981 for example, but <br />overall, the period was wet. Water supplies were ample. This phase shift occurred about the same <br />time the entire Colorado River Basin would experience explosive growth. This pluvial may have <br />given us a false sense of security and certainty for our water supplies. It would come to a sudden end <br />in 2000 with the new millennium. <br /> <br />The Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act <br /> <br />The Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act (CRBSCA) passed Congress in 1976.132 The <br />CRBSCA was passed to address the problems created by the loading and concentration of salts in <br />the Colorado River. Salts enter the river through both natural and manmade sources. The numerous <br />hot springs along the Colorado River near Glenwood Springs are natural. Irrigation return flows are <br />the primary source of manmade salt loading. <br /> <br />lJl The Presidential message notifying Congress of the organization of the EP A is House Document 9-36, July 9, 1970. The National <br />Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) was created at the same time. <br /> <br />132 43 V.S.C. i.571. (1976). <br /> <br />Page -50- <br /> <br />0$ "_ <br />