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<br />practical advantages of nsing the Delta as the source of supply and <br />point of diversion: (1) it was below all riparian owners and users of <br />water in the basins above the Delta and thus not dependent on tbe <br />flows of a single stream, (2) any water developed in the Sacramento <br />or San Joaquin River basins could be transported by gravity to the <br />Delta, and (3) the same was true of surplus water transferred from <br />the northern coastal area. None of the disadvantages to fish and <br />wildlife were discussed, if indeed they were then known. It was <br />determined that Oroville Reservoir could be operated so as to make <br />approximately 2.8 million acre-feet of water available each year for <br />export from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.3! <br />Plans for the development of the Feather River were postponed <br />because of World War II. In 1947, the state legislature authorized <br />the Division of Water Resources (now the Department of Water <br />Resources) to begin a Statewide Water Resources Investigation. There <br />were three phases to the Investigation: (1) the identification of the <br />water resources of California, (2) the detennination of present and <br />potential "ultimate" water requirements, and (3) plamting for the or- <br />derly development of the state's water resources to meet its potential <br />ultimate requirements. These phases resulted in three publications: <br />(1) Water Resources of California, Bulletin 1; (2) Water Utilization and <br />Requirements of California, Bulletin 2; and (3) The California Water <br />Plan, Bulletin 3. The latter document provided a comprehensive <br />master plan to control, distribute, and utilize the waters of California. <br />The Feather River Project was the first unit of the California <br />Water Plan, and, in May 1951, State Engineer A.D. Edmonston pre- <br />sented the first complete report on the Feather River Project. This <br />report proposed a multipurpose dam and reservoir on the Feather <br />River near Oroville, a Delta cross-channel, an aqueduct to transport <br />water from the Delta to Santa Clara and Alameda counties, and an <br />aqueduct to transport water from the Delta to the San Joaquin <br />Valley and Southern California. The proposed project was autho- <br />rized by the legislature in 1951 for further study. It was revised in <br />1955 to add new facilities. <br />In 1959, the legislature enacted the California Water Resources <br />Development Bond Act, or the Burns-Porter Act, named after its <br />authors Senator Hugh Burns of Fresno and Assemblyman Carley V. <br />Porter of Compton. The Act authorized the issuance of $1.75 billion <br /> <br />31 Report on Feasibility of Feather River Project and Sacramento-San <br />Joaquin Delta Diversion Projects Proposed as Features of the California <br />Water Plan, State Water Resources Control Board, May 1951, pages 2-3. <br />81-83. <br /> <br />The SWP was authorized by the Bums- <br />Porter Act in 1959 and approved by a <br />statewide vote in 1960. <br /> <br />Chapter 1 A Brief History 23 <br />