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Nearly all of the allocation for the lower basin (that area comprising the state of Arizona, parts of Nevada, and California) has been set aside for specific uses. As demand increases, the quality of the water and the processes that control it will become increasingly dominant issues. Science and technology were required to develop the resource for human use, and so, perhaps science ought to be applied to make assessments and predictions of the long-term results of the development. The scientific examination of any aspect of any large river would have appealed to the WSTB. The Colorado presented an especially exciting opportunity to examine a set of investigations--the GCES--designed to evaluate the. effects of storage and power dam operation on basic earth science phenomena in the context of its extraordinary resource value. Furthermore, the board saw the opportunity to examine the integration of science and technology with economic, political, and legal institutions, and to bring thinking from diverse disciplines to bear on procedures used to investigate large rivers. The committee's membership reflects that intent. The committee members and others who participated in the committee meetings represented a broad range of expertise, including aquatic and terrestrial ecology, limnology and water quality modeling, sediment transport, hydrology/hydraulics, recreation and land use, economics, operations of large dams, and water and environmental law. As the Glen Canyon Environmental Studies began, the Bureau of Reclamation was being pressed on environmental issues from several quarters. In 1978, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had filed a jeopardy opinion on the effects of Glen Canyon Dam on endangered fishes. Environmentalists were threatening suit to block the bureau's planned increase in generating capacity of the dam. Recreational users (anglers and rafters) in lower x