BOARD00941

• Board Meeting Date: 9/23/1966
• Description: Minutes
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

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NR. STAPLETON:

MR. SPARKS:

MR. STAPLETON:

MR. SPARKS:

...,-........,

tc prcceed with the Cclumbia cnly, at this
time."

"Dc ycu think it wculd be a gocd suggestion
for the Gcvernor tc enccurage such a formaticn
cf a river basin ccmmissicn ccvering both
the Columbia River and the Cclcradc River?"

"It has been enccuraged thrcugh the Western
States Water Ccuncil. This was argued at scme
length in portland about twc cr three months
age. But the people up there feel very strcngly
that this is the first opportunity they have
had to fcrm any type cf group amcng themselves.
They have already made their application and at
this pcint there seems to be no chance of form-
ing a j oint commission cf the twc basins."

"I think this is an impcrtant item in ccn-
necticn with the Central Arizcna Project, which
I am sure you are gcing tc discuss and summarize
for us a little later on.

Do we, as the Cclcradc River Basin, hew
do we communicate with the Cclumbia River
Basin? Thrcugh the National Water Rescurces
Council? Is this the area cf ccmmunication?"

"Nc. We fcresaw this difficulty ccming and
about twc years ago the western states governcrs,
all cf them, that is, all cf them frcm the
Columbia and Cclcradc River Basins, authcrized
the establishment of a Western States Water
Council which is funded entirely by the 11
states of the Coloradc River-Cclumbia River
Basins. We had hoped eventually that we could
coordinate our planning, and I think we are tc
scme extent. We were scmewhat disappointed that
we cculd not merge this Western States Water
Ccuncil intc a river basin ccmmission as estab-
lished by the law, by ccngressional act. At
this time the Western states Water Council is
strictly a state agency funded by volunteer
contributions frcm each of the 11 member states.
It has a staff; I don't knew how permanent it is