WSP07146 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

CURRENT ACTIVITIES, PLANNING, AND PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE By BRIG. GEN. JOHN A.B. DILLARD Oivision Engineer u.s. Army Corps of Engineers Few things are more challenging to a water planner than to stand before a dedicated and knowledgable group of water experts to talk about water - especially Colorado River water. I am pleased to be here, not as a Corps of Engineers representative, but as a dues paying member of the Colorado River Waters Users Association. As a member I bring you a warning - - an idea - - and a chal- lenge. ! We are all familiar with events of the past sixty years on the Colorado River. Over that more than half a century of endeavor, great progress has been made - - progress to the point where today we see a physically controlled river, but a river that is quartered and drawn on the political platform of half a dozen or more States and two major regions. I need not describe the dilemma upon which we find ourselves today for we all know the terms of the Compacts - - the law of the river - - the aims and entitlements of all those dependent - - or involved to some degree on the waters of the mighty Colorado. The record proves that progress can be made - - however painful - - but further progress is going to require a new quality of statesmanship to resolve the problems and a revitalization of those ingredients we refer to as cooperation, understand- ing, leadership, and communication, if the problems are indeed to be resolved in the west - - by west- erners. , You are aware of today's absolute need for inter-communication and understanding in the water field. The intensity of competition for access to available waters - - the rise of new views and interests concerned with the disposition of water resources - - the growing danger of destructive strife- - the wildfire speed with which misunderstandings arise and spread, and the difficulty of overtaking them with efforts toward conciliation and compromise - - these are salient characteristics of this per- iod in the Nation's water history, and particularly here in the west. Today we face a future in which we can no longer expect all water desires to be completely filled. Basic decisions must be made on how to manage wisely and justly the resources that we have or can make available. This is not a revolution, for none of the gains of the past should be overthrown. It is rather a further evolutionary phase; and I believe it will result in a national determination to share limited water resources among the growing list of interests concerned. How shall they be shared is the question. The west. still has millions of acres of potentially irrigable land. Just how many depends on future decision; concerning the economic and other concepts to be considered in determining what is and is not feasible. There are still many valleys and communities vulnerable to floods. How many of them can and should be protected or served by Federal projects depends partly on the changing econ- omics of western growth and development. But it may also depend increasingly on policy decisions as to the role of flood plain management and the changing values of the needs to be served in future project justification. In the west today there is a multiplicity of Federal and local agencies - - of States - - of com- mittees - - councils - - commissions - - associations - - and private entities, all ayowing interest in resolv- ing the problems of the Colorado Basin, and at the National level there are some more. Those at the National level mayor may not be less interested in playing tug of war to serve parochial interests, but unless we in the west act promptly and unselfishly the leadership role may well accede to one of them by default. -15- In resolving the problems of the Colorado River, I am convinced that creative management is