INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS NINETY-THIRD CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON TESTIMONY FROM THE NATIONAL WATER COMMISSION AND THE PRESIDENT JUNE 28, 1973 TESTIMONY FROM THE WATER RESOURCES COUNCIL ON THE Printed for the use of the 22-559 O U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON 1973 KF26 CONTENTS Church, Hon. Frank, a U.S. Senator from the State of Idaho__. Gravel, Hon. Mike, a U.S. Senator from the State of Alaska.... Hansen, Hon. Clifford P., a U.S. Senator from the State of Wyoming_-- Luce, Charles F., chairman of the board of trustees and chief executive officer, Consolidated Edison Co. of New York, Inc.; accompanied by Howell Appling, Jr., founder and president, Independent Distributors, Inc., Portland, Oreg.; James R. Ellis, attorney and partner in the law firm of Preston, Thorgrimson, Ellis, Holman & Fletcher, Seattle, Wash.; Roger C. Ernst, consultant, Arizona Public Service Co., and president, Central Arizona Water Conservation District; Ray K. Linsley, professor of hydraulic engineering, Stanford University, Palo Alto, Calif.; James E. Murphy, attorney and member of the law firm of Murphy, Robinson, Heckathorn & Phillips, Kalispell, Mont.; Josiah Wheat, partner in the law firm of Wheat, Wheat & Stafford, Woodville, Tex.; Theodore M. Schad, executive director, National Water Commission; Robert N. Baker, Assistant Director, Administration, National Water Commission---- ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Memorandum to Senator Church from Dan Dreyfus, re National Water Public Law 90-515-An act to provide for a comprehensive review of na- tional water resource problems and programs, and for other purposes__ Church, Hon. Frank, a U.S. Senator from the State of Idaho__. Horton, Hon. Jack O., Assistant Secretary for Land and Water Resources, Department of the Interior, representing Hon. Rogers C. B. Morton, Chairman of the Water Resources Council, accompanied by Robert Long, Assistant Secretary of Agriculture; Jack Ford, Assistant Under Secre- tary of the Army; and Reuben Johnson, Acting Director, Water Re- 27 28 29, 37 77 79 Church, Hon. Frank, a U.S. Senator from the State of Idaho, letter to Post-hearing questions on the National Water Commission report submitted to the Water Resources Council by the Senate Subcommittee on Water and Power Resources, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs____ Horton, Jack, U.S. Water Resources Council, letter to Senator Church, Enclosure A: Water Resources Council responses to post-hearing ques- tions on the National Water Commission report_-_- Enclosure B: Supplementary information related to the Water Re- sources Council responses to post-hearing questions___ Enclosure C.: Supplementary items requested for the record of the Water Resources Council testimony on the National Water Commis- NATIONAL WATER COMMISSION REPORT THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 1973 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON WATER AND POWER RESOURCES, The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., in room 3110, Dirksen Office Building, Hon. Frank Church, chairman, presiding. Present: Senators Church [presiding], Hatfield, Randolph, Hansen, Gravel, and Burdick. Also present: Jerry T. Verkler, staff director; and Daniel A. Dreyfus, professional staff member. Senator CHURCH. The hearing will please come to order. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. FRANK CHURCH, A U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF IDAHO The purpose of this hearing before the Water and Power Resources Subcommittee is to receive testimony from the National Water Commission on its final report to the Congress and the President which was transmitted on June 14, 1973. The National Water Commission was created by the Act of September 26, 1968, to conduct a 5-year study of national water resources problems and programs and to report to the Congress and the President on its findings and recommendations. At its inception, the Congress granted the Commission the broadest of mandates to consider the full range of Federal water policy. The Commission, furthermore, was designed to have the greatest possible independence from the interests and biases associated with existing agencies and programs. The Commissioners, who will be testifying today, have no permanent positions with the Federal Government, and the staff which was assembled to assist in the study will be entirely dissolved within a few weeks. Gentlemen, there have been some who read your conclusions who think these last two observations are the best thing to be said about the Commission. It is also an extraordinary thing to have an undertaking of this kind completed and then the Commission and its staff terminated within the allotted time. In creating the Commission, the Congress recognized that national water resource needs and public attitudes toward water development had changed greatly in recent years and that the existing Federal water policies and programs might no longer be entirely appropriate. Since 1968, the pace of change has been even more dramatic. A (1) |