Laserfiche WebLink
<br />O~033D <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />be constructed with state and local funds. These projects indicate <br /> <br />the tremendous desire of the valley's citizens to improve the water <br /> <br />situation of the Rio Grande to the full extent of their financial <br /> <br />capability. The salvage projects already constructed and those <br /> <br />planned will make more water available. However, by themselves <br /> <br />they will not answer the total problem. The Closed Basin Project <br /> <br />offers the only hope for a satisfactory solution. The project <br /> <br />would be reclamation in its truest sense. It would salvage water <br /> <br />from a trap created by nature which now consumes approximately <br /> <br />500,000 acre-feet of water annually through evapotranspiration. <br /> <br />There have been fears that the proposed project would <br /> <br />adversely affect existing irrigation practices in the valley. We <br /> <br />do not believe these fears are well grounded. The Closed Basin <br /> <br />Project has been exhaustively studied and reviewed. In 1966 the <br /> <br />State of Colorado employed the nationally recognized engineering <br /> <br />firm of Woodward-Clyde-Sherard and Associates to again evaluate <br /> <br />the project. The report of that firm on the project was most <br /> <br />favorable. In the opinion of that firm the only ultimate solution <br /> <br />to the problems of the Rio Grande River was the construction of the <br /> <br />closed Basin Project. <br /> <br />At about the same time the State of Colorado entered into <br /> <br />a contract with the united States Geological Survey, under the <br /> <br />terms of which the state agreed to contribute approximately $250,000 <br /> <br />-8- <br />