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<br />per million at Imperial Dam is a reasonable figure. I am personally <br />of the opinion that it is a most unreasonable figure. Why should <br />we be stuck with that standard on the Colorado River when we can <br />demonstrate that people have irrigated quite successfully with water <br />containing as much as three times that amount of total dissolved <br />solids, I don't know. It seems to me that we are paying a penalty <br />for inefficient irrigation practices and poor quality lands down- <br />stream. Why Colorado should be ~enalized for lack of drainage facil- <br />ities in Mexico, we are not able to understand. <br /> <br />Mr. Stapleton: What participation did the water users have in this <br />treaty? <br /> <br />Mr. Sparks: The agreement was negotiated between Mr. Brownell and a <br />representative appointed by the President of Mexico. The recom- <br />mendations that were made by the water users were to a large extent <br />ignored. <br /> <br />Mr. Stapleton: What was the extent of their recommendations? <br /> <br />Mr. Sparks: Mr. Moses can throw some light on this. <br /> <br />Mr. Moses: We made a number of recommendations. At the outset, it <br />appeared obvious to me and the other members of the Committee that if <br />you spend a hundred to a hundred and fifty million dollars in the <br />lower Colorado River basin to solve the Mexican problem, it will be <br />that much more difficult to get funding for salinity control improve- <br />ments upstream. You have to remember, although this is very important <br />to the people in the seven basin states, that there are many congress- <br />men and senators in the East who are opposed to any kind of a project <br />of this kind. In the competition for federal funds, in the minds of <br />many, only a certain amount should be allocated in the first place. <br />If you spend a major portion to solve the Mexican Treaty problem, <br />it doesn't leave very much or any for us to solve our problems <br />upstream. We have fifty congressmen and senators. I don't think <br />there was a single one of the representatives of the seven basin <br />states who was asked to sign this letter to the President that didn't <br />sign, setting forth a number of matters which they thought were.essen- <br />tial for the protection of the Colorado River Basin states. <br /> <br />First and foremost, we wanted a clear recognition of the federal <br />responsibility to supply the water which is lost to the Colorado River <br />basin states by desalting operations for the benefit of Mexico. If <br />you have a plant that can desalt 150,000 acre-feet of water, there <br />will be 25 - 30 thousand acre-feet of water lost in brine. We saw <br />no reason why that should be a basin loss and not a national <br /> <br />-10- <br /> <br />I <br /> <br />I <br />