[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 8, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E28]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 CENTENNIAL OF THE NATION'S OLDEST MULTI-PURPOSE RECLAMATION PROJECT: 
                         THE SALT RIVER PROJECT

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. J.D. HAYWORTH

                               of arizona

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, January 7, 2003

  Mr. HAYWORTH. Mr. Speaker, a little more than halfway through our 
nation's history, when the West was still an untamed region full of 
untapped potential, central Arizona's early settlers embarked on what 
has become a hallmark of American vision, boldness and success. The 
story is that of the Salt River Project, the nation's third largest 
public power provider, the largest supplier of water to the greater 
Phoenix metropolitan area and the oldest multi-purpose reclamation 
project in the U.S.
  Incorporated on February 7, 1903, the Salt River Project, more 
commonly known as SRP, deserves special commendation in its centennial 
year for the prominent role it has played in central Arizona's growth 
and development. Its place in Arizona's history prompted me and my 
colleague, Congressman John Shadegg, to nominate SRP for inclusion in 
the Library of Congress's Bicentennial Local Legacies Project.
  Before SRP was formed, pioneers of the area that now encompasses 
large parts of my own Congressional District 5 saw opportunity in the 
desert region they had settled. Farming, commerce and trade were 
beginning to boom. But the region's main source of water, the Salt 
River, proved fickle and dangerous.
  To preserve themselves, their families and their future, the pioneers 
banded together to secure a reliable water supply. They envisioned a 
great dam in the Salt River Canyon east of Phoenix and, though the idea 
may have seemed fanciful to some, it won the support of President 
Theodore Roosevelt.
  With passage of the National Reclamation Act of 1902, the foundation 
was laid for formation in 1903 of the Salt River Valley Water Users 
Association, a non-profit entity that later became the Salt River 
Project. Local farms were offered as collateral to secure a federal 
loan for construction of a stone masonry dam on the Salt River. When 
the dam was completed in 1911, it was rightly named Roosevelt Dam after 
the president whose visionary reclamation concepts helped settlers of 
Arizona and other Western states forge progress and prosperity.
  Today, SRP has more than 780,000 electric power customers, shares 
ownership of power plants in four states, participates actively in 
power transmission decisions across the West, and manages six dams on 
the Salt and Verde rivers and thousands of miles of canals and laterals 
that deliver more than 40 percent of the region's water supply.
  Among utilities nationally, SRP is recognized for its customer 
service, employee-community involvement, corporate giving and 
environmental leadership.
  There can be no doubt that SRP will continue to be a major force in 
meeting Arizona's water and power needs, and an invaluable partner to 
the communities it serves. With pride, Mr. Speaker, I salute the Salt 
River Project on its 100th anniversary.

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