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<br />Based upon the studies that have been examined <br />by the Committee and its staff, the Committee <br />believes that 1,200,000 acre-feet can reason- <br />ably be expected for the Central Arizona <br />Project until some time during the decade <br />1985-1995, after which time, due to the <br />priority granted to California by this <br />legislation and as a consequence of the <br />increasing consumption of water in the Upper <br />Basin, the supply will diminish unless <br />augmented from other sources. <br /> <br />* * * <br /> <br />On the basis of the water supply analyses fur- <br />nished to the Committee and the testimony pre- <br />sented on H.R. 3300 and predecessor related <br />legislation, the Committee has determined that <br />the water supply of the Colorado River will <br />neither be sufficient to meet future require- <br />ments of the area dependent upon it, nor to <br />meet apportionments of the consumptive use of <br />water made by the Colorado River Compact to <br />the Upper and Lower Basins plus the delivery <br />of water to Mexico as required by inter- <br />national treaty. It is inevitable that water <br />requirements will exceed the supply. This <br />condition will occur with or without a Central <br />Arizona Project. It is estimated that the <br />amount of new water necessary to meet the <br />Mexican Treaty requirements and the aforemen- <br />tioned apportionments in the Lower Basin alone <br />ultimately will be between 2 million and 2.5 <br />million acre-feet. <br /> <br />Hse. Rpt. No. 1312, April 24, 1968 reprinted <br />in [1977], u.s. Congressional and <br />Administrative News, at 3699-3700. <br /> <br />b. A Tenuous 'Gamble <br /> <br />Congress was convinced, however, that the <br />Colorado River virgin flows below Lee Ferry could somehow be <br />increased or augmented by at least 2.0 MAF. Such augmen- <br />tation would permit greater water development in both the <br />Upper and Lower Basins, and circumvent the increasingly <br />apparent misjudgments in the 1922 Compact. Congress then <br />passed the 1968 Colorado River Basin Project Act (the 1968 <br />Act) on this basis. This act authorized the Central Arizona <br />Project (CAP), with the capacity to divert another 1.2 <br />HAF/yr. from the Lower Colorado River mainstem, and a number <br />of new water projects in the Upper Basin. In the same <br /> <br />.r.... <br />.'\ <br /> <br />-17- <br />