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<br />NEWS AI'iIO. COMM,.:NT <br /> <br />Grand Canyon: Colorado <br />Dams Debated <br /> <br />The Grand Canyon, carved by the <br />Colorado River over a leisurely 9 mil- <br />lion years, is indisputably one of <br />nature's great masterpieces. The poli- <br />ticians of the Pacific Southwest, in <br />something of a hurry, have been at <br />work on a masterpiece of their Own- <br />a multi-bill ion-dollar water project <br />which, while offensive to some tastes, is <br />drawn to a scale impressive by human <br />standards. <br />Besides two dams in the Grand Can- <br />yon. which are the proiect's most cele- <br />brated featllre to date it would indnde <br />the Central Arizona Proiect. consistinJZ <br />~rincipallv ofa lar!!:e aaueduct runnin~ <br />hundreds of miles across Arizona. from <br />T ~ lcp. l-l ~"!1C:11 .("\n thp. r"lnr!ltin tn Phnp:_ <br />nix and Tucson' a number of reclama- <br />tion and water supply proiects in other <br />rnlnrann hllsin states' and-ultimately <br />t~ nrnjp.~t'~ kev~tnne_an ::ll1t1erlnct <br />li:v~tpm tn hrintr to thp rnlnr:lnn mil. <br />]ion~ -of 3~rp-..fp~t of W$\tpr frnrn ~nm~ <br />other river basin. pr:obablv the Colum- <br />bia. The project's initial cost is esti- <br />mated at $ 1.6 billion; its ultimate cost <br />is not known, but it would run into ad- <br />ditional billions. <br />Legislation to initiate the project is <br />now before the Interior Committee of <br />the U.S. House of Representatives. The <br />bill, H.R. 4671, will, if ever enacted, <br />be a remarkable achievement of basin <br />diplomacy to which Representative <br />Morris K. Udall of Arizona, the Met- <br />ternich of the Colorado, will have con- <br />tributed much. <br />The prooosal represents an intrj~atf', <br />delicate meshing and balancin!!: of the <br />interpli:tc nf t'hp TTpppr rnlnr!1~n n~dl'1 <br />states-Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and <br />New Mexico-with those of the Lower <br />Basin states-Arizona, Nevada, and <br />California. Moreover, it harmonizes the <br />ipterests of Arizona and ralifnrni", <br />whose relations with resoect to use of <br />the Colorado have been markcd by <br />nm~h ciio;:h<>..".,nny. It retains certain <br />elements, such as the canyon dams and <br />. the concept of water importation, of <br />the Pacific Southwest Water Plan sub- <br /> <br />1600 <br /> <br />mitted to Congress in 1964 by Secretary <br />of the Interior Stewart L. Udall, the <br />congressman's brother. <br />The feeling of honest compromise <br />inspired by H.R. 4671 within the Colo- <br />rado basin is not the feeling the bill <br />has always produced outside the basin. <br />Its provisions for a water importation <br />study have generated fears in the North- <br />west that the Colwnbia's now abundant <br />waters Olav be seriouslv diminished bv <br />nf'Olands frQm the Southwest. a region <br />.whose nolitical Dower has been e:rowine: <br />a~ rnpicHv :1~ ire: thirc::t <br />Nationally, conservationist groups <br />have become alarmed by the proposal <br />to build the canyon dams. The conser- <br />vationists, led chiefly by the Sierra <br />Club, have had some success in con- <br />tributing to the atmosphere of' doubt <br />and criticism that seems to have en- <br />veloped H.R. 4671. Indeed, the opposi- <br />tion appears strong enough to make <br />passage of the bill without major altera- <br />tions doubtful-yet any important <br />change in the measure could cause the <br />compromise among the basin states to <br />fall apart. <br />The intricacies of Southwest water <br />politics, fully revealed in H.R. 4671, <br />are best explained by the history of the <br />region's policies regarding use of the <br />Colorado. The "Law of the River," as <br />developed through two interstate com- <br />pacts, several acts of Congress, a treaty <br />with Mexico, and court decisions, ap- <br />portions the Colorado's water among <br />the various basin states and Mexico. <br />The apportionments are based on an <br />assumed annual flow of 17.5 million <br />acre-feet a year-7.5 million for the <br />Upper Basin, 7.5 million for the Lower <br />Basin, and 1.5 million for Mexico. <br />However, from 1906 to 1965 the <br />river's total yearly flow averaged only <br />15 million acre-feet, with annual flows <br />ranging from the record high of 24 <br />million in 1917 to the record low of <br />5.6 million in 1934. Thus far, the defi- <br />cit has existed solely on paper because <br />only California has in fact been with- <br />drawing its legal quota. California, en- <br /> <br />-~7- <br /> <br />titled to 4.4 million acre-feet, has been <br />withdrawing 5.1 million by dipping <br />into the unused share of other states. <br />As other basin states begiQ with- <br />drawing their fun allowances, through <br />future reclamation and water supply <br />projects, the need to conserve and aug- <br />ment the Colorado's flow will become <br />critical. Estimates as to when the criti- <br />cal moment will arrive vary, but it is <br />believed to be not more than a genera- <br />tion away. <br />The purpose of H.R. 4671 is to <br />"make the river whole" by increasing <br />total water available as well as to <br />authorize, for immediate construction, <br />the Central Arizona Project (CAP) and <br />five reclamation projects in Colorado <br />and New Mexico. The canyon dams <br />and the importation of water from out- <br />side the basin are both viewed by the <br />bin's sponsors as essential to their long- <br />range objectives. The dams would serve <br />no water storage function, but, once <br />having paid for themselves from the <br />sale of the electricity that they would <br />generate, they would be expected to <br />contribute to a new Lower Basin De- <br />velopment Fund. This fund, which <br />would also receive the proceeds from <br />water sales and part of the power reve- <br />nues from Hoover dam and other ex- <br />isting dams on the Lower Colorado, <br />would be used to reimburse the federal <br />treasury for about 90 percent of the <br />$525 million to be spent on CAP and <br />for part of the much larger sums to be <br />spent on the aqueducts, pumping sta- <br />tions, and other works needed to im- <br />port water to the Lower Colorado. <br />The hill wOllld diryct the Secretary <br />of the Interior to studv various possi-. <br />bifities for augmenting the Colorado <br />basin's water supply. These Include wa- <br />ter salvage and conservation, weather <br />modification, and desalinization of sea <br />water; but, in the sponsors' judgment, <br />the most promising possibility is water <br />importation. <br />The study would contemplate import- <br />ing, initially, up to 6.5 million acre- <br />feet of water a year (including 2 mil- <br />lion acre-feet to the Upper Basin), <br />which would make up the deficit under <br />present quotas and provide for addi- <br />tional needs that arise. Another 2 mil- <br />lion acre-feet might be withdrawn from <br />the exporting basin (or basins). but <br />diverted to water users along the route <br />to the .colorado. The bill was amenl;led <br />last week to have the study cover West <br />Texas, which is not part of the Colo- <br />rado basin but is potently represented <br />in Congress. The deadline for comple- <br />tion of the importation plan, together <br />with the supporting feasibility studies <br /> <br />SCIENCE. VOL. IS2 <br />