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<br />L, <br /> <br />" <br /> <br />-';.1 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />water from the Colorado Basin throu~h the mountains to the eastern slope. <br />One such project now under construction is th0 ColorQdo-Bi; Thompson <br />Project, a description of which is attachod h0rete. <br /> <br />After leavin<; the V,cst Portal of tho Eoffat Tunnol you are in the <br />watershed of the Colorado River, This river produccs en Qvernge of <br />8,830,000 ccro-foet of water in Colorado annually. Recently at Sante <br />Fe, \Jew ;,Iexico, the Upper Colorado River !Jasin str.tes divided their <br />shnre ef the waters of this 6reat rivcr ~"on5 the states of Utah, <br />\~yor.J.ing, Colorc:.do, Hew ~.lexico.' and A.rizona.. No more i17lporto.nt under- <br />standing could possibly be developed betwocn these states thQn the <br />understanding that has been gained by the Conract for the distribution <br />ef tho wQter supply. This Compact should permit rapid d0velopmont <br />and utilization of the water r0sourcos of thc Colorado River. <br /> <br />It is interesting to note that tho iioffc.t Tunn0l through ,!Vhich you <br />will pass is a double tunnel - ono tunnol bein~ usod by the railroad: <br />tho othor as c.n aqueduct to cc.rry Cclorr,do River ,""ter from the .western <br />slope to the City of Denver. Annually this tunnol transports an nvera~e <br />ef 27,200 ncre-feet of nunioipal water or 8,800,000,000 gc.llons. A <br />few miles to the north qf here is the hiva B. Ad,,-,"s Tunnel, Q 13.3 nile <br />structur0 described in the attached discussion of tho Colorado-Big <br />Thompson Project. <br /> <br />Ih this brief stcto~ent ~n ~ttenpt has boen nude to show the v~lue <br />of water to Color~do c~d the western stutes, Greut e~?hcsis ~ust be <br />given to tho protection of the watershed fro~ which these values are <br />derived. Should any c~tnstrorhc happen which would denude the wator- <br />sheds of their -protective coverin; of forests :ln1 ;:;ro.ziu\; lends, <br />realization of much of the potential vuluc would be forever destroyed <br />and vrith it would go a civilization. :.Juch of this watershed area is <br />in nationul forests which aro well nanc~ed. It behoovos all of us to <br />su!,port c. continuQtion of thQt mC,ntlC;CClent aild protoction and an <br />exp~nsion of soil conservation prosrQ~s to those ~reus in the watersheds <br />not now ndcquately protected. <br /> <br />UFIT ED STJ.TES <br />DEPARTUE'Sr OF THE IETERIOR <br />BUREAU OF RECL.i,JilTIOlI <br />REGIaU 7 <br />DEI'NER, COLOR.;J)() <br /> <br />2 <br />