BOARD02283

• Board Meeting Date: 12/6/1946
• Description: Table of Contents and Minutes
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

37

I

for construction comprise the next stage of development." Colorado
says. that the se-called potentiaF projects listed in Colorado are as
yet largely uninvestigated by the Bureau; that the data contained
in the report concerning snoh possible proj ects Is inadequate for the
purpose of selection and for the purpose of determining their
feasibility and desirability; and that the Seoretary of Interior
shoul~ not transmit the proposed report to Congress unless and until
the Bureau of Reclamation has,completed at le~st one-half of the
individual project investigations and reports in Colorado.

8. Water supplieS': Report shows:

Colorarlo River' at International Boundary virgin
17,720,000 AF Yr.
Required flow,to Mexioo per. Treaty
1,500,000 AF Yr.
Balance available for "depleti on in U. S.
16,220,000 AF Yr.

Report says: Quantity available for consumption with full
development in United States' will be 16,220,000 acre feet annually,
"Plus< such water as was consumed under virgin oonditions by natural
losses preventable in part with full basin development."

But: Report fails to estimate. natural conveyance losses
above Boulder Dam under virgin conditions and under full development
conditions; and hence by suoh hybrid treatment and ommissions,
confuses and leaves states uncertain as to supply to become
available for use in United States.

Note: As compared with reported suppl~' of 16,220,000 acre
feet plus, the compact allocated 7,500,000 to Upper Basin, and
8,500,000 to Lower Basin, and hence the indicated surplus, to be
allocated after 196, per compact, is 220,000 acre feet plus, over
and above the flow allocated per b:eaty to Mexico. .

9. Report shows. what has been accomplished ~uring all past
decades, in~luding operations of Bureau since its creation in 1902,
up to present time, in each basin and state, in terms of water
consumption and stream depletion, as ~ollows:

1

(Here Mr. Patterson gives figures for eaoh state and
totals by states, reservoir evaporation loss, totals
by basins<, consumed in basin, and exported)

Note: Considering the many decades involved in past
development, and the fact that existing depletions, as oompared with
compact allocations, are less than 30 ?ercent in the Upper Basin,
and less than 60 percent in the Lower Easin, the designation
,"potential projects" employed in the report infers an early completion
of projeots that is not justified by past experience or previous
oompletions of projeot reports by Bureau or authorization and
appropriations by Congress.