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OC2~56 - ------ -~-~ -~---- -------- -. Salinity oj the Lower Colorado River/49 and had been more persuasive in presenting the need to the representatives of the Colorado River Basin states. We thus might have avoided the high costs of the solution that was adopted. Hopefully, these retrospective views will remind those who are negotiating agreements on major water issues to try to foresee the consequences of their positions, and to press for the earliest and most practieal solutions, although to do so may seem politically difficult at the time. Delay until a crisis occurs leaves only more costly, less practical alternatives. CONCLUSION Although it is possible to imagine other solutions that would have been less costly, and easier to implement, it is to. the lasting credit of the United States that it accepted responsi- bUlty and took action to correct the salinity problem th'at originated in its territory and adversely affected its neighbor state. As such, it created a worthy precedent for other states to control pollution affecting their neighbors. Credit goes to many people who worked In earnest endeavor over many years to resolve the international problem of the salinity of the Colorado River amicably. Their efforts are acknowledged with respect and appreciation. In the United States, President Nixon's special representative Ambassador Herbert Brownell was masterful in his leading role In reaching the solution. Secretaries of State Rusk and Rogers and their staffs gave the high level support needed. Sam Eaton, Assistant to Ambassador Brownell, was especially able; and Robert Sayre had an important part In the early stages of the problem as Director of the Office of Mexican Affairs and later on the White House staff. The Commissioners for the Bureau of Reclamation, Floyd Dominy, Ellis Armstrong, Gilbert Stamm and their staffs, and the staff of the United States Section, International Boundary and Water Commission, all warrant special mention. Credit should be given to the United States Panel of Scientists, chaired by S.E. Reynolds, and to the mem- bers of the Committee of Fourteen chaired by Carl Anderson. in the early days and later by Wes Steiner who served with dls- cerningjudgment in coordinating and presenting the needs for protection of the waters of the seven Colorado River Basin states. In this effort, Raphael J. Moses demodstrated his usual astuteness In counseling the Committee as one of the two rep- resentatives from the State of Colorado. . On the Mexican side, many dedicated people served well, including Secretaries Carrillo Flores and Emilio Rahaso. The dedicated efforts of the Commissioner for Mexico on the International Boundary and Water Commission, the late