HomeMy WebLinkAbout76-026RESOLUTION NO. 76-26
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF
THE CITY OF SANTA ANA URGING THE
GOVERNOR AND THE MEMBERS OF THE STATE
LEGISLATURE TO RETAIN THE COLORADO RIVER
BOARD IN SUBSTANTIALLY ITS PRESENT FORM
WHEREAS, the Colorado River Board of California was
established by the State Legislature in 1937 to protect California's
rights to water and power resources of the Colorado River; and
WHEREAS, this action by the Legislature was taken in recog-
nition of the great dependence on the resources of the river of the
six public agencies represented on the board and their citizens,
these agencies being the Metropolitan Water District of Southern
California, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the San
Diego County Water Authority, the Coachella Valley County Water
District, the Imperial Irrigation District and the Palo Verde
Irrigation District, and
WHEREAS, the board, largely because of its official status
as an agency of the State of California, has now for nearly 40
years been highly successful in meeting its tremendous responsibilty,
and
WHEREAS, in recent years in line with the primary aspect of
that responsibility, it has been the main force in creating for the
first time a unified and cooperative approach among the seven Colorado
River Basin states toward solving the many complex problems the river
still presents, and
WHEREAS, the Colorado River Board and its staff have pro-
vided not only leadership in meeting river problems but also a
wealth of expertise that is regularly relied upon by both the other
basin states and the Federal Government, and
WHEREAS, the Colorado River represents either a full or
supplemental source of water for some 11 million residents of
California, including those of the City of Santa Ana, irrigates
some 800,000 acres of California farmland and makes a significant
contribution to the state's energy supply through the hydro-electric
power generated at the dams on the river, and
WHEREAS, Governor Brown's 1976-77 budget has proposed the
elimination of the state's one-third funding for the Colorado River
Board as the announced first step toward elimination of the board
as a state agency and a takeover of its functions by the State
Department of Water Resources, and
WHEREAS, said proposal, if effected, would put an end to
the highly effective role the board has played in protecting the
immense interests of the state in the resources of the river and
the overriding necessity for the board to continue to function in
substantially the manner it has, and
WHEREAS, said proposal cannot be fairly represented as a
cost-saving measure since board members have informally expressed
the willingness of their agencies to provide the entire funding, and
WHEREAS, said proposal would, in a single stroke, destroy
the sound and productive working relationship the board, in meeting
its basic responsibility, has developed over the many years with
the counterpart agencies which exist in all other basin states and
with the Federal Government, and
RESOLUTION NO. 76-26
PAGE TWO
WHEREAS, the California Department of Water Resources is
not now staffed to handle Colorado River problems in any adequate
manner, and
WHEREAS, if this effort on the part of the State Administra-
tion should prove successful, California's vast stake in the Colorado
River's water and power resources would be seriously endangered;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of
the City of Santa Ana that said Council does hereby strongly urge
Governor Brown to reconsider his plan for elimination of the Colorado
River Board, and that the members of the State Legislature be asked
to exert their best efforts to retain the board in substantially its
present form.
PASSED AND ADOPTED by the City Council of the City of
Santa Ana at its regular meeting held on the 17th
day of February , 1976.
ATTEST:
STATE OF CALIFORNIA )
COUNTY OF ORANGE ) ss.
CITY OF SANTA ANA )
I, FLORENCE I. MALONE, do hereby certify that I am the
Clerk of the Council of the City of Santa Ana; that the foregoing
Resolution was introduced to said Council at its regular
meeting held on the 17th day of February , 1976, and was at
said meeting passed and adopted by the following vote, to wit:
AYES,
NOES,
COUNCILMEN: Yamam0to, Evans, Bricken,
Garthe, Brandt, Ward
COUNCILMEN: None
0rtiz,
ABSENT,
COUNCILMEN: None
CLERK OF THE COUNCIL
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
KEITH L. GOW
CITY ATTORNEY