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,,'. j of 1941. However, the report and authorization made the construc- tion of the Closed Basin Drain contingent upon a finding of justi- fication for the drain on the basis of cost and the quality and quantity of water to be obtained. During the subsequent period of i~or1d War II and the Korean War almost nothing was done con- cerning the Closed Basin project. CD '. ! .,-1 (" During the past ten years, ,.lith some financial assist- ance from the state of Colorado, the Bureau of Reclamation under- took the task of satisfying the contingency requirements set forth in the 1941 authorization. All previous plans concerning the Closed Basin Drain involved the construction of open drains from the Closed Basin into the river. It became apparent that if open drains were constructed then it would be most difficult, if not impossible, to control the quality of water which would be discharged into the river. In particular, the final Rio Grande Compact of 1930 now in effect provides in Article III(4) as follows: "In event any ,'/orks are constructed after 1937 for the purpose of delivering water into the Rio Grande from the closed basin, colorado shall not be credited with the amount of such "later delivered, unless the proportion of sodium ions shall be less than forty-five percent of the total positive ions in that water when the total dissolved solids in such "!a'cer el{ceeds three hundred fifty parts per million." As a result of a rather exhaustive engineering and geologic investigation, it was determined that by the substitution of selec- tive pumping and controlled mixing in lieu of an open drain that the desired quality of the composite flows could be easily main- tained. It was on this basis that the final plan was developed and submitted to the Secretary of the Interior where it is now pending. Enclosed here,/ith is proposed federal legislation devel- oped by Mr. Moses, Mr. Geissinger and the staff of this Board to authorize the Closed Basin Division of the San Luis Valley proj- ect. Under the proposed legislation the project cost, operation and maintenance for the most part '10u1d be nonreimbursable to the federal government. However, after satisfying the requirements of the Alamosa National Wildlife Refuge and compact and treaty requirements not to elcceed 60,000 acre-feet annually (unless deliveries over that amount were paid for by water users in Colo- rado), the project would still be able to supply substantial amounts of water for use in Colorado. The proposed legislation Nemo -6- August 25, 1967