50-year Anniversary of the Colorado River Storage Project
With the authorization of the Colorado River Storage Project Act over 50 years ago on April 11, 1956, one of many key pieces of the overall Colorado River management structure outlined by Law of the River was put into place. The Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) authorized by the act, allowed for comprehensive development of the water resources of the Upper Basin states by providing for long-term regulatory storage of water to meet the entitlements of the Lower Basin. As the population in the West has continued to grow, so has the demand for water and power. The full value and necessity of the CRSP has repeatedly been demonstrated as these needs have been met. The important purposes and benefits provided by the CRSP cannot be overstated, particularly in light of the extended periods of drought that have been weathered successfully. One of the most complex and extensive river resource developments in the world, the CRSP will continue to play an important role in water management in the Upper Basin.
There are four main units built as part of the CRSP: The Wayne N. Aspinall Unit in Colorado (Blue Mesa, Crystal, and Morrow Point Dams), Flaming Gorge Unit in Utah, Navajo Unit in New Mexico, and Glen Canyon Unit in Arizona; and a number participating projects. The key benefits of the CRSP identified in the act include:
- regulating the flow of the Colorado River
- storing water for beneficial consumptive use
- providing for reclamation of arid and semi-arid lands
- providing flood control and recreation
- generating hydropower
The six dams of the CRSP main storage units have a combined live storage capacity of 30.6 million acre-feet and power generation capabilities to provide over four billion kilowatt-hours of energy annually.
In recognition of the 50th anniversary of the Colorado River Storage Project Act, a commemoration ceremony was held at Glen Canyon Dam on October 19, 2006. Keynote speaker Mark Limbaugh, Assistant Secretary of Water and Science for the Department of the Interior, remarked, "The reach of the CRSP Act is amazing in that it anticipated the day when water demands, water shortages, population and economic growth would converge. I am confident that fifty years from now, water managers and western historians alike will proclaim the Colorado River Storage Project Act as one of the seminal acts that shaped the development of the American West." - Remarks from Event -