By working with irrigation and water districts, state governments, tribes and other local entities to develop innovative solutions to water supply problems, competing interests can be brought together to find collaborative, local solutions for the future. The largest expenditures made to the 12, contractors were for maintenance and construction of dams and other water facilities. The top 10 recipients of bureau contracts are:. The modernization consisted of upgrading the governors, protective relays and unit control equipment on 26 hydroelectric generators at the three dams.
Koontz was responsible for replacing mechanical and analog control equipment that has been in service for more than a decade with new digital technology. The court ruled that the bureau had ignored the ESA requirement to recover endangered species rather than simply prevent a further decline toward extinction.
While environmentalists hailed the decision, farmers and bureau officials expressed concerns that voiding the contracts would have dire economic effects on the agriculture industry.
The diversion of the river resulted in the extermination of the historically large and vibrant San Joaquin River spring Chinook run that ascended the Sierra Nevada before Friant Dam blocked upstream migration. The dam, constructed on the lower Colorado River in Arizona, took 10 years to build and was pushed through by bureau officials on the grounds that it would help tame the river and expand hydroelectric power for growing Arizona.
But environmentalists were furious with the project, for damming that portion of the river meant flooding one of the most pristine regions in the Southwest by creating Lake Powell. As early as the mids, some environmentalists proposed blowing up the dam to restore Glen Canyon to its original state. Forty years after building the dam, Glen Canyon was again a source of controversy. This time the problem was over dwindling fish species and loss of sediments in the Grand Canyon.
The solution, environmentalists, biologists and engineers insisted, was to release some water behind the dam to allow sediments to flow downstream. The first effort during the Clinton administration failed to achieve the desired goals. During the Bush administration, Reclamation officials came up with another water-release plan from Glen Canyon Dam which was first implemented in and then again in At the rate Reclamation was going with its planned releases of river water, environmental recovery would take 40 to 50 years, argued critics.
Much more would be required, they argued, such as trucking sediments downstream or building a slurry pipeline. Comments Joyce Bohn 9 years ago. Funding for reclamation projects came from public land revenues and other sources. Between and the Reclamation Service began 30 projects in the western states and Fredrick Haynes Newell was appointed the first director of the new bureau.
In , the Colorado River Compact was signed by the seven states within the Colorado River basin, to divide and allocate the waters of the Colorado River. In , the name of the Reclamation Service changed to the Bureau of Reclamation BOR and in large appropriations began to flow to reclamation from the general funds of the United States. The first major catastrophe of the dam-building era occurred that same year, when the St.
Francis Dam on the Santa Clara River CA failed immediately upon filling, sending a ft wall of water downstream and killing people.
The height of the dam-building era occurred during the time of the Depression and for thirty-five years after World War II. In , Hoover Dam was completed meters high , which set precedent for the BOR becoming a major hydroelectric producer. After the building of Hoover Dam, hydroelectric projects became a major feature of many reclamation projects, which had proved to be a major source of revenue for repaying Reclamation project costs: i.
In , Congress legitimized this new multi-purpose direction for the Bureau of Reclamation, whose future projects would address not only irrigation, but flood control, navigation, electric power, and municipal and industrial water supplies.
Importantly, revenue generated from producing more hydroelectric power would be used to repay construction costs on ever larger and more expensive projects. In , Congress dropped the acre limit and revised the strict repayment structure for irrigation districts, giving them a long leash and even offering loans to give farmers the time and aid necessary to make their farms productive.
A sign of things to come was authorization in of the Boulder Canyon Project, with Hoover Dam at its core. It was the first time large appropriations began to flow to Reclamation from U.
Unlike the Works Progress Administration, which provided jobs for millions of the unemployed, the Public Works Administration was not a work-relief program, although its projects, which were put out for bid to private companies, helped keep people off relief.
Thirty-four CCC camps were established on Reclamation sites, providing men to line canals with riprap to prevent erosion, clean drainage ditches, build roads and recreation amenities, and clear reservoir sites of brush and trees. An acre foot equals about , gallons, enough to serve two average families for one year.
Reclamation projects bring water to more than 31 million people, and provide , farmers one of every five in the West with irrigation water for 10 million acres of farmland. Reclamation also manages recreation areas with a total of campgrounds. As the largest producer of hydroelectric power in the American West, Reclamation has 58 power plants online, producing enough electricity to serve 3.
And, of course, engineering excellence remains integral to the Bureau, as it applies its expertise to projects big and small--from designing fish passageways and enhancing power grids, to monitoring older dams and employing technology to meet and balance competing needs in a world in which water is an ever-increasingly valuable resource.
Explore This Park. Mission of the Bureau of Reclamation. Between and , Reclamation underwent major reorganization as construction on projects authorized in the s and earlier drew to an end. Reclamation wrote that "The arid West essentially has been reclaimed. The major rivers have been harnessed and facilities are in place or are being completed to meet the most pressing current water demands and those of the immediate future.
Reclamation's redefined official mission is to "manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the American public. Click here to view a list of Commissioners of Reclamation. Reclamation History. Reclamation Reclamation History Brief History.
At first, settlers simply diverted water from streams, but in many areas demand outstripped supply. As demand for water increased, settlers wanted to store "wasted" runoff from rains and snow for later use, thus maximizing use by making more water available in drier seasons.
Click here to view a selected bibilography of sources about reclamation and western water resource development.
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