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.r f' (,,"- lj~l THE COLORADO IN CALIFORNIA'S FUTURE The Colorado will al",avs be of vital impottance to California, It now fnrnishes about 20 percent of the supply used in the entire state, and about 80 percent of the quantity used south of the Tehachapis, Al- though the requirements of Southern Cali forma will mushroom, and although the natural supply of the river available to California may be diminished by new uses in other states, the Colorado will still meet a large portion of the area's water requirements for decades to come. The Colorado is the only presently feasible source of water for irrigation of the desert areas, Imperial, Coachella, Palo Verde and Yuma \-aJleys, where such enormous quantities of our nation's food and fiber are grown, It is the basis for the investment of $200 mil- lion by the citizens of the Southern California coastal plain in The Metropolitan \Vater District's Culorado River Aqueduct, an investment they should not be asked to write off. They cannot afford to have the aqueduct go dry. California's interests in and rights to the waters of the Colorado, natural or otherwise, must ah\:ays be safeguarded zealously, and the inherent problems faced squarely. For on an interstate stream such as this, problems will always remain. They may change in size, shape, kind and number as conditions change, but as long as the ri,'er /lows they will ne,'er go away, THE COLORADO RIVER BOARD During the second and thitd decades of this centotv se\'eral committees, commissions or similar bodies we~e established at various times in California to deal with Colorado River matters, but always on a temporary basis, With the rapid growth of the economy and the increase in developments on the river, the number of interstate problems grew and their complexity in- creased. As the burden of protecting California's inter- ests heC3111e more pressing and its continuous character more clear, [he necessity of a state agency to exercise continuous and comprehensive jurisdiction over the problems of the river became evident. It was recog- nized that the problems in the future would be roo vast and complieared to be handled by interim bodies Of by volunteer and perhaps uncoordinated action. Accordingly, rhe Legislature in 1937 created the Colo- rado River Board of California, Similar or counterpart agencies exist in all the other basin states. Since its creation the Board has maintained, with the essential aid of the executive and legis]at;.'e depart- ments of the state, the cohesion among California in- terests which is indispensable to dealing with interstate and foreign relations with a united front, The wisdom of the Legislature in creating the Board has been dem- onstrated time after time through the years. 20