9337

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 9337
• Author: Colorado River Water Users Association.
• Title: The Colorado River of Many Returns.
• USFW Year: 2001.
• USFW - Doc Type: Coachella, California.
• Copyright Material: NO

CALIFORNIA
On February 24, 1944, knowing a specific amount of water was about
to be guaranteed to Mexico and seeing California increase its use of the
river, the Arizona Legislature swung into action. Californians, with
considerable congressional clout, led the fight against approval of an
Arizona-proposed aqueduct to carry water from the Colorado to the
Phoenix area. Arizona sought recourse in the courts.
At the core of the dispute were differing interpretations of
legislation dealing with the flow of the Gila River and the so-called
"surplus" water. When all the dust cleared, California - MWD most
specifically - faced a 662,000 acre-foot reduction once Arizona began
taking its full entitlement. That was more than half of what the district
had contracted for with the federal government.
In April 1945, the timeline shows ratification of the Mexican
Water Treaty. California Senator Hiram Johnson once again was a key
player - this time in futilely battling to kill it. But this clash did result in
one success: it brought together representatives from all seven states in a
common effort to protect their rights. They formed the Colorado River
Water Users Association (CRWUA).
Though Nevadans primarily led the way that first year,
Californians have played an active role the entire 50 years - holding
office, chairing and serving on committees, and generally providing
expertise. Evan T. Hewes, III) board president and chairman of the
Colorado River Board of California (CRB), became a member of
CRWUA's first board of trustees. He moved into the position of
secretary/treasurer in 1951 and vice president for 1952-53. For 1955-56,
Raymond Mathew, CRB chief engineer, took the reins, the first
Californian to become association board president. As the CRWUA
presidency rotates among states, Mathew was followed in 1963-64 and
1974-75 by the same two men who followed him in his position at CRB:
Dallas Cole and Myron Holburt. The last Californian to become president
was MWD board member, Howard Hawkins. At least eight Californians
who are current (1995) CRWUA members have been so for 25 years or
more: Harry Griffen, 31; Myron Holburt, 30; E. Thornton Ibbetson, 29;
Virgil Jones (member board of trustees), 33; Roy Knauft, 29; John Lauten,
28; Roy Mann, 33; and Ray Rummonds (member board of trustees), 34.
The third Californian currently serving on the association's board of

trustees is MWD
board vice chairman,
James Blake.
In 1995, the
Colorado River
serves some 25
million people, more
than 16 million of
them in Southern
California. It
irrigates more than
1.8 million acres of
land, upward of
650,000 of them in
Southern California.
With a state
CONSTRUCITON OF THE ALL-AMERICAN CANAL GOT apportionment of 4.4
UNDER WAY IN 1934. million acre-feet a
year, plus half of any
surplus water, the Colorado supplies about 65 percent of the water used
south of the Tehachapi Mountains, from the Pacific Ocean to the river.
The MWD region receives about 3 billion kilowatt-hours a year of
electricity from the hydroelectric generating stations on the Colorado.
Though there are other users of Colorado River water in Southern
California, six large public agencies have the major rights to the state's
share of its water and power resources. Allocated on a first-in-time, first-
in-rights basis, Palo Verde Irrigation District, Imperial Irrigation District
and Coachella Valley Water District were in line for the first 3.85 million
acre-feet of water. Metropolitan Water District has the right to the
remaining 550,000, a portion of which is still facing challenge. Rounding
out the six agencies are the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
and the San Diego County Water Authority, both member agencies of
MWD, which receive their water entitlements through that district.
Being near the end of the line at the spigot, MWD took the lead
in seeking creative ways to stretch the supplies and, working cooperatively
with Imperial, Coachella, Palo Verde and the federal government,
developed innovative programs that have been win-win situations. In
1967, MWD, Coachella and Palm Springs' Desert Water Agency devised
the concept of an interagency water effort later followed by a groundwater
storage program. In the late 1980s, after sometimes painfully difficult
negotiations covering more than five years, III) and MWD struck a deal in
which Metropolitan pays for water-saving improvements in Imperial's
system and receives the conserved supplies. For a two-year period in the
early 1990s, about 60 farmers in Palo Verde's service area idled some
20,000 previously producing acres for two years in a test land fallowing
program with MWD. The water that normally would have been used by
PVID farmers was instead "banked" in Lake Mead, making the saved water
available to urban users. Through the efforts of Californians, Congress, in
1988, authorized lining portions of the all-American and Coachella canals
through which more than 93,000 acre-feet of water soaks into the sand
each year. And innovative environmental mitigation programs have gone
hand-in-hand with new construction projects.
In this era where the politics of water is more instrumental than
the engineering, the fertile imaginations of Colorado River water users
throughout Southern California continue to work overtime providing
innovative thinking and creative forces aimed at achieving that which will
become future entries on the Colorado River timeline.
Compiled and written by JoAnn Lundgren, consultant, former senior assistant director
of public affairs, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and chairman,
CRWWA public affairs committee.
13
WITH THE GREAT DEPRESSION IN FULL SWING, VOTERS IN 1931 AUTHORIZED
$220 MILLION FOR AN AOUEDUCT. PROPOSAL WAS APPROVED BY A NEARLY
5-TO-1 MARGIN.