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By now the fish and wildlife agencies were moving toward more emphasis on fish and wildlife which in fact would be a net gain to fish and wildlife in the area. The water agencies on the other hand supported plans that would stabilize banks and stop the errosion and loss of land along the river. This loss of land is a loss forever as far as the Indian tribes are concerned, and an unnecessary waste of taxpayer money for those of us that have to remove the added silt and sand from our intakes and canal systems. In addition to these problems there are miles of sandbars now forming in the downstream areas that will make navigation of the river difficult for boaters and fishermen in the future. In short Mr. Chairman, I believe the representatives of the other five agencies in California that hold water delivery contracts with the Interior Department agree that in as much as stabilization plans have been studied and restudied, hashed and re-hashed, that disagreement such as has risen between the Bureau of Reclamation and the Resource agencies should not hinder the Bureau of Reclamation in proceeding with their statutory responsibility on the Lower Colorado River. Indeed, the Colorado River Indians also agree the bank stabilization should proceed.

Mr. Chaiman, today millions of people in Arizona and Southern California depend on the Colorado River in one way or the other for their livelyhood. Our dependence on the Colorado River calls for a well regulated river. The Bureau of Reclamation has a good Environmental Department staffed with well qualified people. They also have good Engineers. They are practical people trying to do the job they were hired to do. They need your help and support. They have the support of the Palo Verde Irrigation District both as an agency and as a supporting agency of the Colorado River Board of California. Tomorrow in Needles, Myron Holburt, Chief Engineer of the Colorado River Board of California will express views shared by the Six agencies of California that use water from the Colorado River. We support these views.

In closing, I would like to remind you that had much of the work the Bureau has done in the last fifty years gone undone we would not be reaping the many benifits we do today. Mr. Chairman and committee members, thank you for allowing me to appear before you today.

Virgil L. Jones

PALO VERDE IRRIGATION DISTRICT

Legislative Representative

STATEMENT
of

JAMES W. FERGUSON

before the

COMMITTEE ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS
Yuma, Arizona September 7, 1983

I am James W. Ferguson, President of North Gila Valley

Irrigation District.

I would like to pass along some views of the North Gila Board of Directors.

The U.S. B. R. dredged a pilot channel down river from Laguna Dam approximately six (6) miles. This was good and fine, but we think they (U.S. B. R.) made a big mistake when they hauled tons of rock and riprapped both sides of this so-called pilot

channel.

Tules and cane have grown up through these rocks. Flood water has to run over the top of all of this. I have asked the U.S. B. R. everytime they talk about releasing excess water to clean this stuff out. Their answer is that if we have a flood, it will wash out. Believe me, gentlemen, these rocks are not the floating kind... they are pure granite!

Every year the Regional Office people from Boulder, Nevada, come down for their annual meeting with the various districts. We were told in early December that they (U.S.B. R.) were going to start releases up river approximately 18,000 to 19,000 cfs through June and possibly into October. They (U.S.B.R.) did what they said they were going to do for about 30 days. From about the

first of February to about the middle of March this river was damn near dry. The river came up somewhat after that, but not too much, I am sure you

until the high releases we are still experiencing.

can obtain their records if you so desire.

I would like to invite you up to Prison Hill for a look

at the river. I am sure you will see that there is not much channel where there is supposed to be...just tules, cane, brush

and sand.

Since

Before Glen Canyon Dam was built, the U.S.B.R. spilled water regulary at Imperial Dam and kept the sand washed on down river. I guess with over 26,000,000 acre feet of extra water in Lake Powell, we don't have enough water to do this anymore. then, the Gila River has run several times and dumped tons and tons of sand, along with the desilting plant at Imperial Dam, and the bed of the Colorado has steadily risen. To compensate for this, the U.S.B.R. keeps building higher and higher levees. I guess when the river bed builds up another 100 ft. the levees will go up 120 ft.

The U.S.B. R. is trying to force all of this water between Prison Hill and Indian Hill. Hell, the U.S.B. R. even put the Wellton-Mohawk salt canal between these two hills and plugged this gap a little more. Before the dams and levees were built, when there was a big flood, the water overflowed around the north side of Indian Hill and back into the river below.

Now, God bless the U.S. B. R. for all the great dams for flood control and storage. We could not farm as well without all

this.

We are not mad that all of this water had to be released.

Any damn fool knows that when the dams are full there is no place

for the water to go but down river.

We certainly believe that if the river was clean the water

would be 4 to 6 feet lower, maybe more.

We have a serious groundwater problem in North Gila Valley with more than one-third of the Valley less than 4 feet from land surface to water, with some water on the surface.

I am sure the U.S.B. R. would like to get dredges in here and go to work, if you can get them by the Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife and all of the other agencies they have to contend with, and if you can obtain the funds for this purpose.

This needs to be started NOW, not next year.

On behalf of North Gila Valley Irrigation District, I am

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This statement has been prepared on behalf of the shareholders and corporate administrators of the Yuma County Water Users' Association. Briefly, the Yuma County Water Users' Association is a private, not-for-profit corporation, organized in 1903 for the purpose of contracting with the United States Bureau of Reclamation for the construction, operation, maintenance and care of the many Power, Drainage and Irrigation facilities of the Valley Division, Yuma Reclamation Project. The corporate shareholders generally consist of property owners operating primarily within the Yuma Valley between the Colorado River levee on the West and the elevated Yuma Mesa on the East. Statistically the Valley Division, Yuma Reclamation Project encompasses approximately 52,000 acres of river bottom lands that vary in elevation from approximately 125 feet above mean-sea-level near Yuma, to an approximate elevation of 85 feet near San Luis, Arizona located at the Southerly International Boundary.

Since the Yuma Valley is protected by a levee and therefore has no direct water surface outlet to the river and because of its relatively low elevation in respect to the Colorado River, the need to rid the Valley lands of waste and seepage water became a visable problem early in the history of the Yuma Reclamation Project. The first surface drains were constructed by the USBR in 1916 and shortly thereafter Valley drainage waters were pumped into Mexico near the town of San Luis, Sonora. In fact, since pumping first began at the Project's Boundary Pumping Plant, the Yuma Project has pumped approximately 5,200,000 Acre Feet of water into Mexico at a considerable cost to its shareholders. Throughout the Valley's history, the Project has continued its efforts to keep pace

26-099 0-83--28

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