Water Resources People and Issues
Well, anyway, that does bring us up to my work on the National Water
Commission, which I consider the most important work I have done in water
policy. Actually, the Kerr Committee had a much better reception and was
essentially implemented within a few years which is unusual for a study
commission report. The key reason was that the study was made by people who
were in a position to influence the implementation of the recommendations,
which is a lot different from a presidential commission where the appointees
are appointed and do their work and then are gone.
The legislation for the National Water Commission was passed in September
1968. It was proposed in the comments of the Bureau of the Budget on the
Bureau of Reclamation's proposal for a Lower Colorado River Basin project.
This project was proposed after the end of what we used to call the "long suit,"
the Arizona versus California law suit over the division of the waters of the
lower Colorado River.
The flow of the river had been more or less allocated between the upper and
lower basins by the Colorado River Compact in 1922. Of the 7.5 million acre
feet allocated to the lower basin, California was to have 4.4 million acre feet,
Arizona was to have 2.8 million acre feet, and Nevada was to have 0.3 million
acre feet. In addition, Mexico was to have 1.5 million acre feet. Projects to
allow the upper basin states to use its 7.5 million acre feet had already been
authorized, so it was quite obvious that there wouldn't be enough water for all
of the projects, since the average virgin flow was down below 13 million.
When you allowed for Mexico's allotment, there wasn't nearly enough water.
In the meantime, California had started using, oh, something over million
acre feet. The Supreme Court decree had set up a procedure for allocating the
shortages, but I won't go into that because it's a very complex decree.
But the Bureau of Reclamation moved right in after the decree was made final
and proposed the Lower Colorado River project, which at various times and
through various stages involved Bridge Canyon Dam and Marble Canyon Dam
bracketing the Grand Canyon National Park on the Colorado River. Glen
Canyon Dam had already been built near the division point between the upper
and lower basins and provided storage for the upper basin to make its delivery
to the lower basin.
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