mission's recommendations, the storage division would consist of the Echo Park, Flaming Gorge, Glen Canyon, Navaho, Cross Mountain, and Kendall units, together with general provision for storage on the upper reaches of the Colorado above Grand Junction.

Mr. Chairman, may I ask whether it would be appropriate to insert in the record at this time a copy of my letter to you of February 19, setting forth the amendments recommended by the Upper Colorado River Commission to S. 1555?

Senator MILLIKIN. That may be inserted in the record at this point. (The document referred to follows:)

Hon. EUGENE D. MILLIKIN,

United States Senate, Washington, D. C.

FEBRUARY 19, 1954.

MY DEAR SENATOR MILLIKIN: I have been directed by the commission to recommend the following amendments of the bill (S. 1555) to authorize the Secretary of the Interior to construct, operate, and maintain the Colorado River storage project and participating projects, and for other purposes, now pending before the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.

Page 1, line 7, after the word "States," insert "and with the Indian tribes." Page 2, line 13, after the word "Navaho" insert "Cross Mountain."

Page 2, line 13, strike "Curecanti"; substitute "Kendall," together with the following proviso: "Provided, That no appropriation for or construction of the Kendall unit shall be made or begun until and unless the Secretary of the Interior shall have found it feasible under standards laid down by the Federal reclamation laws :".

Page 2, lines 13 to 19, delete "Provided, however, That the Curecanti Dam shall be constructed to a height which will impound not less than nine hundred and forty thousand acre-feet of water or will create a reservoir of such greater capacity as can be obtained by a high water line located at seven thousand five hundred and twenty feet above mean sea level;".

Substitute "feasibility."

Page 2, line 22, after the colon insert "(a)". Page 3, line 7, strike the word "coordinated." Page 3, line 15, delete the period, insert a comma together with the following: "(b) and also one or more projects on the Colorado River and its tributaries above Grand Junction, Colo., which will impound approximately three million acre-feet of water, a substantial portion of which shall be located on the upper reaches of the Gunnison River: Provided, That no appropriation for or construction of any of such works shall be made or begun until a report thereon shall have been submitted to the affected states pursuant to the Act of December 22, 1944 (58 Stat. 887), and approved by the Congress."

Page 4, line 14, after the word "costs", insert: "within the capability of the land to repay."

Page 5, line 12, delete the beginning parenthesis and substitute a bracket.

Page 5, line 23, after the figures "1949"," insert: "and in the case of Indian lands in participating projects, in excess of the amounts found to be within the capability of the land to repay."

Page 5, line 23, delete the ending parenthesis and substitute a bracket. Page 6, lines 13 to 16, delete the entire clause beginning "Neither" and ending with the semicolon at the end of line 16, and substitute: "No right to impound or use water for the generation of power or energy, created or established by the building, operation or use of any of the powerplants authorized by this Act, shall be deemed to have priority over or otherwise operate to preclude or impair any use, regardless of the date of origin of such use, of the waters of the Colorado River and its tributatries for domestic or agricultural purposes within any of the States of the Upper Colorado River Basin ;".

Page 7, line 13, after the word "power," insert: "generated in plants authorized by this Act and disposed of."

Page 7, line 18, strike the word "replaced"; substitute "supplied."

Page 11, line 12, strike “except on lands in Indian reservations."

Page 12, line 10, strike the period after the word "section" and substitute a colon, together with the following: "Provided, That this section shall not apply to lands in Indian reservations or lands owned by Indian tribes."

Insert the following section to be numbered 11:

"SEC. 11. The Secretary is authorized and directed to do such things as may be necessary, including the granting of all necessary rights-of-way, easements, and dam sites on or involving public lands or power sites of the United States, to assist in the construction of the Blue River project, as hereinafter defined, and provided:

"(a) The Blue River project means that portion of the waterworks system and plant of the city and county of Denver, Colorado, which consists of works planned by the Board of Water Commissioners of the City and County of Denver, for a regulatory dam to be constructed at and near Dillon, Colorado, sometimes called the Dillon unit, a tunnel from Dillon, Colorado, to Grant, Colorado, sometimes called the Montezuma Tunnel, and regulatory storage, and hydroelectric power installations at and near the junction of the North and South Forks of the South Platte River in Colorado, sometimes called the Two Forks unit, and related improvements and structures, all for diverting at a point immediately below Dillon, Colorado, an average of not to exceed 177,000 acre-feet per year of water from the Blue River and its tributaries, transporting said water to the South Platte River near Grant, Colorado, and storing and utilizing said water for municipal uses including generation of electric energy.

"(b) Denver, as used herein, shall mean the city and county of Denver, Colorado, as its territorial limits are now fixed or may hereafter be extended.

"(c) Upon the condition that the legal availability of a reasonable quantity of water for the Denver-Blue River diversion be established, either by litigation or some other arrangement and the condition that such project be otherwise feasible, the Secretary, with the approval of Congress, shall advance to Denver, as a loan to be used in the construction of said project, funds of the United States in amounts not exceeding in the aggregate $75,000,000 upon Denver entering into an agreement satisfactory to the Secretary to repay all money advanced, together with interest on unpaid balances, terms of repayment to include the following:

"1. Net revenues of the Denver water plant and taxes levied on all taxable property in Denver shall be made available to the discharge of Denver's obligations to be created under this section.

"2. No interest shall be payable on advances for the construction of any unit until completion of construction thereof, or until the lapse of fifteen years from the first advance therefor together with any period of delay on account of failure of the United States to provide money therefor, whichever shall occur first.

"3. Repayment of principal, with interest at the average rate being paid by the United States for long-term money at the time the repayment obligation arises, shall be made in fifty equal annual installments after the obligation to pay interest arises.

"4. Denver may accelerate the discharge of any portion of its remaining obligation to the United States at its election.

No money advanced under this section shall be used by Denver for overhead. The Secretary is authorized to make and execute agreements necessary or proper for the execution of the purposes hereof and the protection of the United States in the relationships to be created under this section."

"Sections 11, 12, 13, and 14 of the bills then would be numbered 12, 13, 14, and 15, respectively.

Page 13, line 9, strike the period after the word "Act"; substitute a colon, together with the following: "Provided, That appropriations for the storage units of the project and their incidental works may be made without regard to the soil survey and land classification requirements contained in other laws.” Page 14, line 12, insert: "The terms 'Secretary of the Interior,' and 'Secre tary,' as used herein are synonymous."

For your ready reference, I enclose a copy of a map we have had made which shows the locations of the several units recommended for authorization. Copies of this may have been made available to Mr. Elmer Nelson for the use of members of the Senate Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs.

Sincerely yours,

JOHN GEOFFREY WILL Secretary and General Counsel.

Mr. WILL. Without the regulation to be provided by the storage division, the upper basin States cannot make any considerable additional uses of water of the Colorado River system that would not be

subject to ruinous interruption during years of low flows. Obviously, no great investment in such consumptive-use projects would be justified in the face of a threat of extensive and unpredictable interruptions in water supply. Finally, the benefits of silt retention, resulting in extension of the useful life of Lake Mead and in providing conditions under which the eventual construction of additional lower basin works will be practicable, must not be overlooked or minimized.

If there be any doubt regarding the need for the holdover storage recommended by the Upper Colorado River Commission, that doubt is easily resolved by facing a certain fact, to wit: that the periods of high flow of the Colorado River do not coincide with the periods of greatest demand on its waters. It is this fact which causes us to seek holdover storage.

The experts say that, in the light of historical measured flows of the river at Lee Ferry, the dividing point between the upper and lower basins, in the light of historical fluctuations from year to year and from period to period, we must equate the river by providing longterm cyclical, regulatory storage. They tell us that these holdover storage reservoirs will provide for the maximum and most efficient consumptive uses of water resources in both the upper and lower basins. As to the aggregate of the holdover storage required, they tell us that this can be ascertained by an examination of streamflow records coupled with understanding of the significance of annual and periodical streamflow characteristics.

The aggregate of the active storage that will be provided initially by the holdover storage reservoirs recommended by the Commission for authorization at this time is substantial. In the main, those who question the need for this storage do so on the basis of the limited consumptive-use projects proposed for authorization at this time. They seem, furthermore, to assume that all of the holdover storage recommended will be created at one fell swoop.

It should be borne in mind that not all of these holdover storage reservoirs will be created at once. These main-stem dams will be built over a long period of years. During this construction period, it is to be anticipated that many more consumptive-use projects will come into being, either through private or public investment or both. The storage to be provided must, therefore, be related to the limit of the consumptive uses that the upper Colorado River Basin is entitled to make under the Colorado River compact of 1922.

Thus, while it is perfectly true that not all of the holdover storage recommended for authorization at this time is needed immediately, yet it should be authorized now and constructed in orderly fashion so that, when it is needed, it will be available. It is obviously wise planning to construct the most efficient holdover storage units now, before additional inevitable consumptive uses occur in the upper basin in order to minimize the effects of the initial filling of the upstream reservoirs on the regimen of the river.

The proposal that this holdover storage be authorized at this point is comparable in soundness and foresight to the policies of the most conservative and successful corporations in our country today. Almost 30 billions of dollars were expended by American business in 1953, for new plant and equipment alone. Enormous public investments are likewise to be anticipated. An illustration of this is contained in the recent offering by the Metropolitan Water District of

Southern California of a new $10 million bond issue, and the recent marketing of bonds by the Imperial Irrigation District. These new plants and facilities constantly being constructed by private and public enterprise are not immediately needed. They are an example of sound programs and investments in works that will be ready when they are needed. They are an example of confidence in continued growth. We have no lack of confidence in the future of the upper Colorado River Basin or in the future of the Colorado River Basin as a whole.

The testimony that will be presented to you during the course of these hearings will, in the main, show:

First, that many years of painstaking investigation have gone into the preparation of plans for the development, conservation and use of the water resources of the upper Colorado River Basin;

Second, the proposals resulting from those investigations constitute, as the President said, a "comprehensive, well-planned development of a river basin;"

Third, that the works proposed for authorization at this time are but a part of that plan;

Fourth, that the Federal Government and the States of the upper basin are in close agreement with respect to the type of program that is best adapted to the area. Differences of opinion are present, in the main, only with reference to the number and extent of the works that should be authorized for construction at this time.

It is our hope that the witnesses for the executive branch of the Federal Government may be heard first; and that they may be followed by the witnesses for each of the States represented on the upper Colorado River Commission in reverse alphabetical order.

Senator MILLIKIN. Thank you very much, Mr. Will.

Any questions?

Senator KUCHEL. Mr. Chairman, may I ask a question?
Senator MILLIKIN. Yes.

Senator KUCHEL. Mr. Will, referring to the Colorado River compact, article 111 of the compact provides that the States of the upper division shall not withhold water and the States of the lower division shall not require the delivery of water which cannot reasonably be applied to domestic and agricultural use.

Do I quote that part of the compact fairly accurately?
Mr. WILL. I am sure you do.

Senator KUCHEL. And it would be your desire that the legislation before us would not violate the Colorado compact, and particularly the section to which I have just alluded?

Mr. WILL. Nothing that we have proposed, in accordance with our judgment, is in violation of the 1922 compact, and we specifically have recommended the inclusion of provisions designed to obviate that.

Senator KUCHEL. Now with respect to the reservoirs and the problem of the storage of water and release of water, who under the bill before us now would have the responsibility of determining when and in what fashion water would be released from the storage reservoirs! Mr. WILL. The Secretary of the Interior.

Senator KUCHEL. That is all, Mr. Chairman.

Senator ANDERSON. Mr. Chairman?

Senator MILLIKIN. Senator Anderson.

Senator ANDERSON. On page 5 of your statement, Mr. Will, you have in the second paragraph the declaration that it amounts to a single, multiple purpose, Federal reclamation project?

Mr. WILL. Yes, sir.

Senator ANDERSON. Don't you think it is extremely important that we bear that constantly in mind when we are discussing this bill on the development of the whole upper basin? Mr. WILL. I do, Senator. I think that is Some people have had the impression that this projects that might well be treated separately. It is one project composed of a number of parts. and it fits into the pattern of Federal reclamation projects heretofore authorized.

extremely important. consists of a series of Such is not the case. But it is one project

Senator ANDERSON. If that isn't done, don't we come up with all sorts of strange situations? For instance, Senator Johnson was discussing the Glen Canyon Dam. What does the Glen Canyon Dam do for irrigation in any of the States?

Mr. WILL. It makes irrigation possible in the upper basin States, Senator, by regulating the flow of the river so that we can meet our commitments downstream.

Senator ANDERSON. I know it does that, but will 1 drop of the water that is put in Glen Canyon Dam be used to irrigate 1 foot of land in any of the States of the Upper basin?

Mr. WILL. No, sir.

Senator ANDERSON. Therefore, realizing that it is a good project, we have to take a whole basinwide look at it and take in all the States, and decide that even though it doesn't provide irrigation when we are trying to get irrigation, if it does regulate stream flow, it may have value.

Mr. WILL. Yes, sir.

Senator ANDERSON. Senator Johnson points out that the project is going to cost some 526,000 acre-feet of evaporation, plus 100,000 acrefeet of sediment. That amounts to 600-and-some-thousand acre-feet a year or 10 percent of all the water that comes into the upper basin States that is going to be dissipated by the use of the Glen Canyon Dam.

There, again, we are asking the people of the upper basin to take a whole look at the entire project before we decide whether these units shall be built.

Mr. WILL. That is correct; yes, sir.

Senator ANDERSON. I know in the letter you sent to Senator Millikin, which I have not had an opportunity to review before, you recommend inserting the Kendall project, from Wyoming, which Senator Barrett mentioned, and which the governor mentioned. Mr. WILL. Yes, sir.

Senator ANDERSON. Is that a new project?

Mr. WILL. It is a reservoir that will have very slight significance from the point of view of holdover storage, but some, and will be highly significant in connection with the Seedskadee development in Wyoming.

Senator ANDERSON. The language you recommend says that no appropriation for construction of the Kendall unit shall be made or begun until and unless the Secretary of the Interior shall have found