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<br />The Bureau of Reclamation had an unexpended balance of about
<br />757,780 from previous Central yalley appropnatlOns on June 30, makmg
<br />$10, t 1 available for expendIture m the fiscal year 1944 some $33,326,780.
<br />the to a .
<br />At the present date it would appear that the present constructlOn status
<br />h arious units of the Central Valley Project can be summed up as follows:
<br />of the vnits as the Delta Cross Channel and the Mendota Canal, the Shasta-
<br />Sue io~h Transmission Line, and .the proposed Antioch steam electnc pla~t are
<br />Ant b . g urged and at present it does not appear probable that they wIll be
<br />n?t eW.p.B. approval for use of materials until. material and manpower
<br />glve~a e conditions have greatly improved. The Fnant-Kern Canal, and the
<br />shor g Costa Canal are being urged for their food-producmg poss1b1htles.
<br />Contr~ h the War Food Administration rec?mmended t?e Friant-Kern Canal,
<br />AlthCo~gress appropriated $7,000,000 for Its constructlOn, the War Produc-
<br />and Bard early in August. again refused to release matenals for It. The
<br />twn 0 Costa Canal is still under consideration. Added power units at Shasta
<br />Contf{eswick Dams may be reconsidered if future development~ in the fuel
<br />and. ation warrant, but completion of the two 75,000 KW. umts at Shasta
<br />OIl SItu tly is deemed by the War Production Board to be sufficIent to take care
<br />appar:n ated power demands in Northern California in 1944 and 1945. Com-
<br />of a.nt1c~1 Shasta Dam and its two power units is ~ssured. Continua,tion of cou-
<br />pletlOn rk on Keswick Dam has been approvad m order to have It ready for
<br />~retel~tion of electric generators if the need for them becomes apparent. Com-
<br />mst~ f Friant Dam and the Madera Canal has W.P.B. approval and sup-
<br />pletlOnt~1 appropriatio~s have been made by Congress.
<br />plemen
<br />. e Needs for Power and Irrigation Water Supplies
<br />Wartun .. .
<br />A number of problems and Issues WIth respect to the ~ompletlOn, opera-
<br />. nancing, and management of the Central Valley ProJe~t are ~s yet un-
<br />t1On, ~ or unsettled. Some of these, as already mdlcate.d, are lmn:edlate 9ues-
<br />solve I fve to the delay or acceleration of constructIOn on vanous umts of
<br />tions re. a ~ in which the paramount consideration is what will ,best further
<br />the ~~o;~ff~rt. With regard to th.ese,. it would appear tha~ the 9uestion of war
<br />the for electric power productlOn m the Northe~ Cahforll1~ area ha~ bee!1
<br />needs. d by the War Production Board.'" Earher prophecIes of an 1mm1-
<br />determ~~~r shortage in this area made by various Federal and State Officials
<br />nent ~ot materialized, and the margm of safety betweendep:nd~ble capacIty
<br />have t1.ng facilities and the peak demands for power IS bemg mcreased by
<br />fgenera .. . I' f
<br />o Iant facilities. AuthorIzatIOn has therefore been ~lven for comp etlOn ?
<br />neW ~5 000 KW. capacity generators at Shasta Dam mstead of the five umts
<br />twO d nd negotiations are completed on a contract for the sale o~ thIS
<br />plan~:eie~tric power to the Pacific Gas and Electric Company covenng a
<br />hyd d f the duration of the war and a year or two thereafter, as recom-
<br />PerlOO . A..
<br />d d by the Senate CommIttee on ppropnatlOns. .
<br />men e
<br />The present outlook is that construction on other power generation ~nd
<br />. 'on units will be deferred until after the war, except a connectmg
<br />tranSm~SsSlon line from Shasta Dam to Shasta sub-station and to Oroville. The
<br />t ansm1S 1 .. I. d. d. . h d
<br />r .' g question for determinatIOn as prevIOus y In Icate , IS WIt regar
<br />remhallllll r needs for food production,' and primarily as to whether the Friant-
<br />totewa ... ,
<br />-- rogram Vice Chairman of W.P.B. and Director of the Office of War. UtIhtles, testified
<br />(llJ, A. J(rug, ~earings on the 1944 appropriation bill that h~ had personallh looked, mto the matter of
<br />du~ing ~ou~~defs on fUft,her p'!wer !lnits at Shasta and Keswlck Dams and t at he did not see any pros.
<br />lifting r ~ower shortage m Cahforma.
<br />p""o' ~f:OGOO
<br />
<br />Kern Canal should be immediately initiated and rushed to completion over t~e
<br />next two years, in order to bring supplemental water supplIes to ~a~ms m
<br />Tulare and Kern counties. Completion of the Contra Costa Canal umt IS also
<br />pending for decision, but in this instance the relatively small amounts of mate-
<br />rial, manpower, and money required to finish it are of minor importance,
<br />compared to the larger project.
<br />
<br />On April' 26, 1943, the Acting Commissioner of Reclamation, H. W.
<br />Bashore, submitted to P. L. Slagsvold. Production Programs Board of the
<br />Food Production Administration, revised data on a two-year accelerat.ed con-
<br />struction program with minimum critical materials in connection WIth war
<br />food production for the irrigation units of the Central Valley Project, and a
<br />statement that PD-200 applications were being prepared.
<br />
<br />This statement indicated that requirements for steel on the Friant-Kern
<br />Canal unit would be 5,397 tons in 1944 and 5,846 tons in 1945. Requirements
<br />for cement would be 95,400 barrels in 1944, and 103.000 barrels in 1945. Lum-
<br />ber requirements would be 2,680 M feet B.M. in 1944 and 3.085 M.B.M. in
<br />1945. Labor would be 201,000 man-days in 1944 and 214,000 in 1945. Expendi-
<br />ture requirements were estimated as $11.387,000 in 1944 and $12,845,000 in I
<br />1945. or a total of $24,232,000 for the two-year program. The statement also
<br />indicated that the Friant-Kern Canal, if completed to the Kern RIver would
<br />deliver supplemental water supplies to 90,000 acres in Tulare County and
<br />110.000 acres in Kern County, according to estimates by the California Water
<br />Project Authority.
<br />
<br />Completion of the Contra Costa Canal and lateral system, according to
<br />the report submitted, would serve 20,000 acres.
<br />
<br />These facts and other estimates of food production possibilities have
<br />been submitted to the Food Production Administration. The Committee on
<br />Problem 2 (Food and Fiber production) of the Central Valley Project
<br />Studies, also has submitted a report to the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation rela-
<br />tive to possibilities of food and fiber production under various units of the
<br />project. which as yet has not been publicly released. Efforts to obtain approval
<br />of Federal war agencies and appropriations by Congress for accelerated con-
<br />struction of the irrigation features of the project have been supported by the
<br />Governor, the California Farm Production Council, the State Water Project
<br />Authority, the California State Chamber of Commerce, and other official and
<br />civic agencies in Cali fornia.
<br />
<br />Longer Term Problems of Construction, Operation, and Economics
<br />
<br />The remaining engineering and construction problems are indicated by
<br />information presented as to the status of construction. Public interest in these
<br />relates primarily to the question of costs and their relation to charges which
<br />will have to me made for water and other services of the project in order that
<br />repayment of the capital cost shall be made over the 40-year period provided
<br />under the Reclamation Act. Engineers of the California Water Project
<br />Authority, for example, claim that the Delta-Cross Channel unit could be
<br />constructed at a cost not greatly exceeding their original estimate of
<br />$3,867,000, rather than the $26,740,000 to $39,454,000 estimated plans of the
<br />Reclamation Bureau, and experiments with models are now under way in the
<br />Bureau of Reclamation headquarters at Denver to test the feasibility of the
<br />former plan. Other studies are being made as to alternatIve or auxiliary water
<br />
<br />(10)
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