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<br />"1', <br />:'~ <br />i.;.;f <br /> <br />"1 <br />. ,'q <br />,,:,11 <br />,<'ll <br />:~::~ <br />:~ <br /> <br />o <br />K.'" <br />~::::.. <br />W <br /> <br />l::~ <br />,..,~ <br />..,~ <br />.;~.;g <br /> <br />f~ <br />"::.J <br />,,'$ <br /> <br />"'>' <br />t~ <br />i:~ <br /> <br />m <br />~~ <br />,~, :;; <br /> <br />~1 <br />k:i <br />:d' <br /> <br />~t <br />~,~ <br />W,." <br /> <br />,t~ <br />'''~ <br />>':5 <br /> <br />~! <br /> <br />r:;,' <br />t:1 <br /> <br />~'l <br />i~; <br /> <br />1f(j <br />t;;ii <br /> <br />t} <br />'-:~~J <br /> <br />~ " . <br /> <br />Wesley Steiner <br />Arizona <br /> <br />The Committee of Fourteen was established before the 1944 Treaty , then disbanded. Soon after <br />1961, when the salinity problem with Mexico began, the State Department wrote to the <br />governors of the Basin states to ask that it be reactivated to advise the mwc. I, was appointed <br />one of Arizona's representatives in 1969, when I became State Water Engineer and Ejcecutive <br />Director of the Arizona Water Commission, but I came from the. California Department of Water <br />Resources and had previously represented that state on the Committee. I guess I was elected <br />Chairman because it was drainage from an Arizona project that precipitated the problem. <br /> <br /> <br />Initially, in the 19605, the Committee of Fourteen stonewalled the Federal government on <br />concessions to Mexico. The Treaty was clear. We finally recommended offering "equivalent <br />salt balance," a concept I think was suggested by Steve Reynolds. <br /> <br /> <br />It was Nixon and Kissinger who came in and upset our position. We believed that anything the <br />U.S. offered Mexico beyond equivalent salt balance had to be a Federal responsibility. The <br />Committee stayed united, though. We had just come through the CAP Act and ArizQna v. <br />California period, and the last thing we wanted was another scrap over who would bear water <br />costs. <br /> <br />Brownell had enormous respect for the Committee of Fourteen, and we had an excellent <br />relationship with him. My contacts with him were mostly in formal meetings. I once met <br />privately with him and Sam Eaton for dinner, late in the process. He wanted to check his <br />recommendations with me before presenting them to the Committee. I don't recall touring the <br />Yuma area with him, though-I really don't think the Committee was along on that one. <br /> <br />We did know that Kissinger was involved in the process of finding a solution to the salinity , <br />problem. That fact came out when Brownell reported to the Committee that equivalent salt <br />balance was being scrapped-I think it was early in his tenure. <br /> <br />I'm very uneasy about the desalter. It had to be there, given Nixon's promises, but I was very <br />uneasy at the time-and still am-about its being a permanent solution. The brine loss <br />replacement issue has still not been resolved. I also had grave concerns about what Ag. [USDA] <br />was pushing-agricultural efficiencies that perhaps could not be reached and sustained. The idea <br />of using upstream storage water for dilution-no, no, a thousand times, no. That would have <br />put us right back where we were before the Colorado River Basin Project Act-and Wyoming <br />never supported that! <br /> <br /> <br />Buying out Wellton-Mohawk was never viable. I don't recall other states suggesting it, because <br />of the precedent it would set. The Upper Basin states in particular did not want the precedent, <br />and Arizona could not afford an intrastate fight-the CAP appropriations still lay ahead. It was <br />probably unfortunate that the Wellton-Mohawk project was ever built, but the Yuma people had <br />their friends in Congress, especially Senator Hayden. Of course, Arizona is much more urban <br /> <br />B-9 <br /> <br />;,-%,,,,- <br /> <br />