The West is not competing withi the East for things 

 that can best be produced in East, such as steel, 

 textiles, automobiles, and so on. 



But the West can make tremendous contributions to 

 the country as a whole in food, copper, coal, oil, lum- 

 ber, and high technology. 



As former Colorado Governor John Love said, 

 "The only limit to the future is the availability of 

 water." 



This brings me to the second point — decreased 

 federal funding for reclamation projects. 



I understand and sympathize with President Rea- 

 gan's directions to cut federal spending. Yet I am 

 concerned when the cuts are directed at programs 

 that will pay for themselves many times over the origi- 

 nal cost I consider reclamation projects to be federal 

 investments, rather than federal spending. 



Since 1902, the US Government has invested only 

 $10 billion in reclamation projects. These projects 

 serve about 10 million acres of land. That's an 

 investment of about $1,000 per acre during the past 

 80 years, for an average of $12 a year per acre. 



During the same period, reclamation projects have 

 produced $100 billion in benefits, such as crops, elec- 

 trical power and taxes That's an average return of 

 $120 per acre per year. 



Western reclamation projects already have returned 

 more money to the Treasury than they have taken 

 out; and most of the projects will go on paying for 

 decades 



"Western reclamation projects already 

 have returned more money to the Trea- 

 sury than they have taken out; and 

 most of the projects will go on paying 



for decades." 



In 1978 alone, reclamation projects generated $8 5 

 billion in private income, $1.7 billion in corporate prof- 

 its, $2 2 billion in federal taxes and $11 billion in state 

 and local taxes 



The area served by reclamation projects is not 

 large. There is a total of 10,093,000 reclamation 

 acres. That is only 15,770 square miles, an area that 

 is about half the size of the State of Maine. Imagine 

 what IS possible for the future! 



And the future does not just belong to farmers 



During 1980, reclamation projects provided water to 

 22.1 million people. Some 19 million of these were 



municipal and industrial customers The remaining 3.1 

 million were farmers 



fvly organization, the Salt River Project in Phoenix, 

 Arizona, is the oldest reclamation project in the nation 

 I think it is also a good case study on how reclama- 

 tion development occurs. 



In 1903, Phoenix was a dusty, little farm community 

 in the midst of a seven-year drought. Irrigation had 

 been practiced for about 35 years. When the Salt 

 River flowed, canals carried water to about 200,000 

 acres of land, helping to produce almost every major 

 kind of fruit, vegetable and grain that can be grown 

 on this planet. 



But by the fifth year of the drought, thousands of 

 acres of land were parched, thousands of acres of 

 fruit trees were dead or dying and hundreds of people 

 had left the valley. 



Those that stayed included my grandparents, and 

 they worked for passage of the Reclamation Act. 



The first beneficiaries of the project, which was to 

 grow to 238,000 acres, were some 3,500 farmers. 

 These people used their private land as collateral for 

 a $10 million government loan to build dams and elec- 

 tric facilities and to improve canals. Other benefi- 

 ciaries included the remaining 18,000 people in the 

 county who had business ties to the farm community. 



Revenues from electric power sales to the copper 

 mining industry were used to help hold down water 

 assessments and to repay the government loan. 



By 1940, the original loan was more than half-paid, 

 and Phoenix had a population of 65,400. In 1950, 

 Phoenix reached a population of 106,800; and in 

 1955, the original loan was repaid in full. 



Following World War II, farmers accelerated their 

 land sales to subdividers and industry. l\/lore than 280 

 manufacturing enterprises were started in Phoenix 

 between 1948 and 1960. By 1960, Phoenix had a 

 population of 434,200. The important thing is this — 

 as the land changed uses, the water rights stayed 

 with the land and were used for municipal and indus- 

 trial purposes. 



Today, Phoenix is the ninth largest city in the United 

 States in population More than one million people 

 receive domestic water through the Salt River Project, 

 which is about 60 percent "urbanized." 



Now, some people think that a fully-urbanized pro- 

 ject area will result in surplus water that can be used 

 for municipal and industrial purposes This is not true. 



We have kept careful records over the years, and 

 have found that while land use has changed, water 

 use has remained relatively constant. About 

 two-thirds comes from the reservoirs. The remainder 



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