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REMARKS OF SENATOR ALAN BIBLE Delivered By ROY WHITACRE Staff Member, U.s. Senate Interior Committee f I feel a little like an old grad coming back for a reunion. Many of you may recall I served as the first president of this Association way back in 1945 following an organizational meeting in Jan- uary of that year. I'm tempted to say something like "a lot of water has flowed down the Colorado River since that time," but the pun is expendable in the interests of accuracy. Instead, I'll observe that a lot of water has been put to beneficial use, thanks to the efforts of this Association. I take no small measure of pride in my tenure as president, and equal pride in Nevada's active participation in the years since. You all know, of course, that your current President, Mr. Elmo De- Ricco, is director of the Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. He's my valued friend, as is Mr. Hugh Shamberger, a former Association President who held Elmo's job with the State for a great many years prior to his retirement. I used the "old grad" analogy to characterize my appearance here today. That's not entirely true, because no one really ever "graduates" from this Association. Once YOl become involved, you're hooked. You may move on to other things, professionally speaking, but you retain a genuine interest in the activities of a group that has made substantial progress in solving seemingly insurmountable problems. My own interest has been more than peripheral. As a member of the Senate Interior Commit- tee and the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, I have had the opportunity to study thoroughly all aspects of the water problem, particularly as it relates to Nevada and other western states. And it has been my privilege to spearhead legislation aimed at providing long-range solutions, notable in the areas of weather modification, saline water conversion, water pollution control, inter-basin projects and increased assistance for state and local water resources research. Time will not permit an in-depth analysis of all these areas, and I'm certainly not going to lec- ture a group of acknowledged experts on what needs to be done to develop new sources of water for a tributary that has a deficiency estimated at 2 million to 2.5 million acre-feet annually. You know what needs to be done; the question is largely one of implementation. And that's a very big question indeed. Let's examine for a moment the subject of proposed interbasin transfers. Unlike other vision- ary proposals, such as weather modification and saline conversion, interbasin transfer involves a critic- al factor - politics. And I would be less than honest if I said the obstacles are those which can be easily overcome. We know, for example, that once we surmount the political hurdle, we will be confronted by massive engineering challenges requiring substantial expenditures. And when a member of Congress talks about substantial expenditures, he's talking about billions, not millions, in this age of the inflated dollar. . Nonetheless, interbasin transfer remains the best ultimate solution and must be pursued ag- gressively. Where surpluses exist - - - whether in the Pacific Northwest or the Arctic regions -- - a means can be found to channel them to the arid regions of the Southwest. The fact is that this is a problem of increasing national urgency. As such, the need for a solution eventually will prevail over all obstacles, political and economic alike. The Southwest states are not going to be permitted to dry up and blow away. Practically speaking, however, interbasin transfers remain a long-range objective. Whether we are considering the relatively modest objectives of the Sierra..cascade Project, or the spectacular scope of the North American Water and Power Alliance, the plans are not yet ready to come off the drawing boards. First, we must remove the obstacles, one by one, and this will be a time-consuming process. -7-