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J S O U T H L A N D W A T E R C O M M I T T E E MWD Sets $850 Million Bond Program Proposal to be Submitted to Voters At 1966 Primary At Southland Water Committee luncheon, Senator Thomas H. Kuchel is shown with Joseph Jensen (center), Chairman of the Metropolitan Water District's Board of Directors, and Southland Chairman Pres­ton Hotchkis (right), who presided at the meeting in the Biltmore Hotel Bowl. Some 700 city and county officers, water district officials and civic leaders attended. Legislative Outlook In Congress 'Hopeful/ Kuchel Tells Southland Water Luncheon The outlook in Congress is “hopeful” for legislation to assure California’s 4.4 million acre-feet annually from the Colorado River until “water from some other source” can be imported to augment the Colorado’s flow. This was Senator Thomas H. Kuchel’s report April 12 to 700 city and county officials, water district officers, and civic leaders from all parts of Southern California who met at a Southland Water Committee luncheon in the Biltmore Hotel Bowl, Los Angeles.. But despite the "hopeful” outlook, Senator Kuchel empha­sized, “W e will need all the help we can get.” “The truth is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to enact giant water projects. And I must frankly say that there are An $850 million bond proposal to finance the major part of a huge new tunnel and pipeline system to distribute Northern California water in the Southland will be submitted to voters at the June, 1966, State primary election, the Metropolitan Water District’s Board of Directors has announced. The action was taken on the basis of a report submitted to the Board by Robert A. Skinner, M W D’s general manager and chief engineer, who outlined plans for a network of distribution facilities costing an estimated $1.2 billion. New works are essential to distribute the northern water to M W D’s member agencies. The first Northern water is due in the 1970’s. M W D has contracted to receive 2,000,000 acre-feet annually. Preston Hotchkis, Southland Water Committee general chairman, hailed the proposed program as “illustrative of the far-seeing and forward-moving action that is typical of this growing area.” “The efficient and economical construction of the essential distribution facilities now under study by the M W D Board is a major objective of the Southland Water Committee,” Hotch­kis said. “Our job, in the months ahead, will be to inform our­selves so that, with the facts in hand, we can speak with con­viction to the people and thus fulfill our civic duty to advance this vital program.” The proposed bonds will have no significant impact on the Metropolitan Water District’s tax rate of 14 cents per $100 of assessed valuation, Skinner said. The construction program would be spread over the next two decades to keep up with and take care of the growing water needs of the District’s service areas in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego and Ventura Counties. Thus the water future would be safeguarded at least until 1990, and in some cases until the year 2020. The District’s popu­lation is expected to reach at least 17 million by 1990. Present population is already nearing 10 million®- about half that of the entire State. In addition to its vast construction features, the bond pro­gram may include a sea water conversion plant large enough to serve a city the size of San Francisco. M W D joined the Fed­eral Government last December in awarding a contract for a far-reaching study of this possibility. The study is expected to be completed by the end of this year. The urgency of the bond proposal is underscored by the expert conclusions that the Colorado River, once considered APRIL (Continued on Page 4) (Continued on Page 4}: 523 West Sixth Street, Los Angeles 14, California 1965