The Alabama-Coosa River System 181 



in system capacity. The very serious problem of indivisibility 

 encountered in the development of the Snake River is avoided here. 



TABLE 30. Comparative Data on Coosa and Snake Rivers and Associated 

 Private Developer 



Coosa River Snake River 



Drainage area (sq. mi.) » 10^00 '' 73,500 



Average annual flow (cu. ft. per sec.) » 16,150 '' 16,640 



Fall in relevant reach of river (ft.) 210 602 



Hydroelectric potential (installed generator capac- 

 ity in kw.) 421 ,700 900,000 



Current installed generator capacity of intended 



developer (kw.) 1,529,950 374,000 



Source: The Report of the President's Water Resources Policy Commission, Vol. 

 2, Ten Rivers in America's Future, 1950, Part 1, No. 1; Part 3, No. 7. 



" U. S. Geological Survey, Water Supply Paper 1334, 1954, p. 234. 



'' House Document No. 531, 81st Congress, 2nd Session, Vol. iv, p. 1446. 



Finally, provisions in the legislation suspending the authorization 

 for federal development of power on the Coosa require that a 

 definite amount of one potentially significant collective good — 

 flood control — be provided as a condition of the license. On 

 a priori grounds, therefore, none of the necessary conditions for an 

 efficient design and plan of operation is lacking. It is desirable, 

 however, to evaluate a number of considerations more carefully. 



Comparative Efficiency of Alternative Development Plans 



Neither the plans for the development of the Coosa nor the 

 process of licensing the applicant for developing the river are final 

 at the time of this writing. For this and other reasons,^^ the data 

 for analysis of the Alabama Power Company plan of development 



" In the Hells Canyon case, expert witnesses with conflicting interests not only 

 defended their positions under cross examination, but also were required to 

 make explicit the controlling assumptions governing all major conclusions. In 

 the case of the Coosa, the application for license is not being contested with 

 respect to matters involving comparative efficiency. Under the circumstances, the 

 paucity of data usable for analysis of the Coosa is in marked contrast with that 

 available in connection with the Hells Canyon development. 



