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<br />0Ci22~!. . . <br /> <br />These early peoples of the Pacific Southwest could not cope lJi th the sharp <br />fluctuations in annual rainfall and the long S1lr.1ll!ers uithout precipitation uhich we, <br />today, consider one of Arizona's great cdvantages. TIley had no conception of stor- <br />ing up water even for a. singJ.e season, let alone planning ahead to save the surplus <br />water in years of plenty to use in years of drouth. Thus, their primitive irriga- <br />tion ditChes ran dry and their civilization faded out. <br /> <br />There is no danger of that occurring today. Thanks to the skill of the recla- <br />mation engineer--and here I am not alluding only to Bureau of Reclamation engineers <br />for lIe have had plenty of outside help-the Salt and Gila Rivers and the Lo!ler <br />Colorado are among the most efficiently used of any in the country. <br /> <br />Five more storage reservoirs have been added to the original Roosevelt r'am. <br />Diversion works and c8nil systems have also been improved. TIlis work must continue <br />until practically the last drop of water for consumptive use, hydroelectric pouer <br />production and the other multiple purposes has been squeezed from the Salt and Gila <br />and their tributaries. <br /> <br />vfuen water allocations in the lower basin are determined in the action now <br />pending before ~le Supreme Court, some additional major facilities may be contem- <br />plated. Again, the engineers will be called on to determine how best to keep the <br />water supply ahead of the demand in the Southwest. For here, probably more than in <br />any section of the United States, there is an awareness of ,the need for proper con- <br />servation and use of water. That is probaiJly 1.Thy this has been the storting place <br />for the concept of multiple use reclamation facilities. <br /> <br />'i <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />ror example, I don't have to tell anyone in ~lis audience that Hoover Dam was <br />buil t not just because there was a good damsi te in Black Canyon and a bunch of <br />engineers saw an opportunity to build the highest dam in the ll0rld. You and I know <br />that Hoover Dam was built to control and put to Hork a fluctuating and unruly river. <br /> <br />There is ample evidence of the success of this function in this current cycle <br />of dry years lThich has brought Lal:e Mead to the lowest level since the reservoir <br />l;as filled back in the thirties. Even though the runoff has been such that the <br />normal flow of the river would have been little more thon a soupy trickle by late <br />summer, a steady and consistent year-round flow has been maintained dOlmstream by <br />operation of Hoover Dam and its dOlo/Ustream partners, Davis and Parker. This year, <br />we are reducing power output to further conserve the river for its primary consump- <br />tive purposes of irrigation, domestic and industrial use. <br /> <br />But there are too many people llho either do not know or else blindly ignore <br />the reasons for construction of these reclamation facilities, and class them as a <br />giant boondoggle or porlcbarrel operation. Believe it or not, we are getting some <br />of the same arguments against presentl;y proposed reclamation l%rk that were used <br />tuo and three decades ago against projects that have since proved their Hortil many <br />times over. <br /> <br />Just listen to uhat one colmnnist llI'ote about r,eclamation a fell weeks ago; <br />~ ever an object of Government expense needed an airing, it is lThat is loosely and <br />inaccurately called reclamation." <br /> <br />The columnist goes on to mention the investigations by the Hoover Commission <br />and the President I s Cabinet Com.'lli ttees on vlater Policy, and then asserts: <br /> <br />4 <br />