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<br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />22 <br /> <br />Colorado River had enough water to serve the present and future needs of all <br />seven states. Under Director Davis' leadership, the Reclamation Service <br />produced a 326-page report entitled, "Problems ofthe Imperial Valley and <br />Vicinity. "50 Based on that study, Davis had told League of the Southwest <br />representatives that "the waters of the Colorado River system always would be <br />sufficient to supply all demands of both the upper and the lower states if used <br />within the drainage area of the Colorado River system. . . ." As Carpenter <br />noted, Davis was considered "an ultraconservative in reclamation matters and <br />his statement carried great weight. 51" <br />For Carpenter it made no sense to restrict Upper Basin use of Colorado <br />River water, because the natural conditions of the land along the river <br />automatically controlled its use. The canyons were too deep and much of the <br />land was unsuitable for irrigation. When Lower Basin representatives <br />challenged him on this, he responded that "we could not take all the water if <br />we might so wish [because] nature has so shaped that country that while there <br />are bound to be low and high years. . . nevertheless we will never be able to <br />wholly deplete the river. . . ."52 Moreover, Carpenter contended, even if the <br />Upper Basin could take all of the water, from forty to sixty percent of any <br />diversion in the Upper Basin returns to the river basin. 53 The basin is like a <br />giant sponge. The only water which would be one hundred percent <br />consumptively used would be the transmountain diversions going through <br />tunnels to the East Slope. <br /> <br />Transmountain Diversion and River Flow Data: <br />At the public hearings in Grand Junction on March 29, 1922, W. F R. <br />Mills, General manager of the Board of Water Commissioners for the City <br />and County of Denver, estim~l\'ld that Denver's population would increase <br />