UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT of the INTERIOR * * * * * * * * * * * * * ********news release
BUREAU OF RECLPJ.AATION Peterson - Interior 4662 WATE For Release SEPTEMBER 24, 1963
BUREAU OF RECLAMATION TO PREMIERE NEW~~IN NEVADA DURING PRESIDENT'S VISIT The world premiere of the Bureau ~lamation's new documentary motion
held in- Las-Vegas, Nev .. -,--durin President Kennedy's visit there September 28, the Department of the Interior announced today.
The 13!-minute 16 mm. color-and-sound film will be shown on a large screen in the Las Vegas Convention Center rotunda immediately preceding the President's address.
On his way to Las Vegas during his conservation tour, the President will fly over nearby Hoover Dam, pioneer Reclamation multipurpose structure, and its reservoir, Lake Mead, for an aerial inspection. The dam and reservoir, along with Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell, 370 miles upstream, are featured in the film.
"Clear Water on the Colorado 11 presents spectacular scenes of the once-muddy and almost inaccessible Colorado River in the canyons of Arizona and southern Utah, now desilted and cleared by Glen Canyon Dam which began storing water March 13, 1963. The film portrays the miracle of a silt-free Colorado River between the headwaters of Lake Mead and the headwaters of Lake Powell.
The film points out that Glen Canyon Dam--topped out September 13, 1963, has desilted and cleared the Colorado River just as did Hoover Dam downstream 28 years ago.
A tremendous load of sediment, varying from 24 to 270 million tons in different years, has been deposited at the head of Lake Mead since Hoover Dam was closed in 1935. Water impoundment in Lake Powell behind Glen Canyon Dam will trap 75 percent of future sediment and thus make possible the construction of other proposed downstream dams at the Marble Canyon and Bridge Canyon Reservoir sites. The reservoirs for these proposed projects are relatively small and would quickly fill with silt without the protection from the Glen Canyon Project and also some additional silt retention dams which are planned downstream from Glen Canyon Dam. However, both Lake Mead and Lake Powell are of such capacity that no appreci able loss of usefulness from siltation is now anticipated within the foreseeable future. The two reservoirs will have a combined storage capacity of approximately 57 million acre-feet of water, or more than four years' average flow. Other reservoirs of the Colorado River Storage Project system, notably Navajo Dam on the San Juan River i~ New Mexico and Flaming Gorge on the Green River in Utah, will also provide silt control on these major tributaries to the Colorado. Besides the water storage and hydroelectric power generation benefits, Glen Canyon Dam's imp~ovement of the Colorado River will result in tremendous recrea- o a is an --WilcU1fe returns---i-o the Nation, Secret;e:ry of the Interior Stewart L. Udall said. Millions of people will visit the clear waters of Lake Powell and downstream river stretches, which formerly were seen only by a relatively few adventuresome river runners. The film shows in vivid color what happened to the Colorado River, often called the "Big Red," after the red silt carried by the river began collecting in Lake Powell. The film's climax occurs when a scene of muddy water leaping and rolling over Mile 234 rapids above the Bridge Canyon Dam site at the head of Lake Mead turns into white, clear water. "Clear Water on the Colorado" is available upon request for free showing by television stations, schools, clubs, and other organizations. Mail prints can be obtained from the Film Distribution Center, Bureau of Reclamation, Department of the Interior, Building 53, Denver Federal Center, Denver, Colo., 80225. Borrowers are required to pay return postage only. x x x
P.N. 35440-63 2