The House of Power and Light

• Year: 2006
• Title: The House of Power and Light
• Author: Colorado River Energy Distributors Association
• Description: Hydroelectric Power in the Upper Colorado River Basin
• Publications - Doc Type: Other

Bringing power to the nation was cause for optimism during
the darkest of days. During the Great Depression, for example, one
newspaper hopefully predicted that all Americans would one day have
electricity. At the time, only 10 percent of Americans outside major cities
had electricity.
Fifty years ago, Congress passed the CRSP to develop the water
and power resources of the Upper Colorado River Basin. Today, these
reservoirs are vital to the existence of towns, cities, industry and agriculture
in the West. The CRSP authorized the construction of Glen Canyon, the
Aspinall Unit, Flaming Gorge and Navajo dams for the purpose of:
regulating the flow of the Colorado River, storing water for
beneficial consumptive use, making it possible for the States of
the Upper Basin to utilize.... [their compact apportionments,]
providing for the reclamation of and and semiarid land, for the
control of floods, and for the generation of hydroelectric power,
as an incident of the foregoing purposes .... 43 U.S.C. § 620.
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Chu`rtesy pf the Bureau of Reclamation
CRSP iniudes dams In three states and provides
-term water storage and hydropower.
CRSP reservoirs
changed the arid landscape.
Power illuminated the West. With water and
power available, towns sprang up and flourished.
Productive fields and orchards are now irrigated
with the water conserved by reservoirs and used
for power production. Recreation has also flour-
ished. Boating and fishing on CRSP
reservoirs infuses millions of
dollars into local economies. And rafting,
kayaking and fly- fishing have become
popular activities downstream of the
reservoirs.
The CRSP reservoirs have a
total storage capacity of 34 million acre -
feet and generate enough electricity to
supply nearly 6 million homes. Roughly
25% of the nation's food is grown on
land irrigated by the Colorado River.
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