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<br />Water Project Legislation <br /> <br />-3- <br /> <br />July 30, 1981 <br /> <br />4. State ap~rova1s by the full legislature on a profect-b~- <br />project basis shou d be required - Otherwise state approva is llkely <br />to be shunted off to a development oriented specialized agency which <br />is disinterested in full and effective scrutiny. <br /> <br />5. Repayment fees should be placed at realistic levels to <br />recover the cost of front end and borrowed monies, and fees should <br />escalate appropr1ately in relation to inflation - Otherwise the benefit- <br />cost basis for the project will be destroyed and the initial justifica- <br />tion will never be realized. <br /> <br />6. Project planning and funding should include Wild and Scenic <br />River designation of related stream segments - We deplore construction <br />funding of projects, such as the Dolores, without any protection being <br />given to the balance of the river. With every additional project and <br />with ever increasing pressure from population growth, this need for <br />protection will become increasingly important. We are keenly disap- <br />pointed that members of our own Congressional delegation have not <br />pressed for river protection as forcefully as for river development. <br /> <br />7. Since each new Dam on the Colorado River or its tributaries <br />results in a REDUCTION of the total amount of water which can be <br />diverted, no ro'ect evaluation is com lete without determinin who <br />wi 1 lose b each new ro'ect and how much. terior Department studies <br />see .S.G.S. lrCU ar 09 and Storage Requir,ements for l~ater", <br />Water Resources Research, v.2, no. 3, 1966,) show that the optimum <br />number of dams has already been built on the Colorado River. In the <br />latter analysis, at page 353, it is stated: <br /> <br />"*** and on one stream, the Colorado, the existing storage <br />already exceeds the total required for achieving maximum <br />sustained flow; further additions would reduce the net <br />yield because of evaporation. Whether additional storage <br />is economically or politically desirable depends partly on <br />the extent of multiple-purpose storage for purposes other <br />than providing a uniform flow." <br /> <br />In short, new dams will lessen the maximum possible total diversions! <br />This is not to say that water for energy from new dams may not be far <br />more important than losses of even greater quantities at other sites, <br />but where those losses will occur and how great they will be surely <br />. must be studied if any new evaluation is to be adequate. New legisla- <br />tion presents a golden opportunity to implement the concept of basin- <br />wide management. <br /> <br />8. Evaluations should be in accordance with "Princi les and <br />Standards or P ann1ng Water an Re ate Lan Resources' 973, as <br />amended 1979.- Evaluations of proposed projects should be ones <br />w 1C a Sl es will respect for thoroughness, whether the outcomes <br />are to their liking or not. Traditional evaluation methods of the <br />