Number: 1979-23
WHEREAS, current and projected annual demands for water exceed existing and potential renewable yields from surface and groundwater supplies in many basins in the United States; and
WHEREAS, several agencies have advocated the construction of new inter-basin water transfer facilities in order to meet projected demands for water;
WHEREAS, interests and rights of the states to interstate waters are becoming increasingly competitive and controversial; and
WHEREAS, some uses of water are consumptive and do not permit reuse; and
WHEREAS, export of water from a basin necessarily reduces the instream flows in the basin of origin by the amount exported in contrast to uses within the basin of origin which allow for return flows to the stream and rivers which benefit fish and wildlife resources and enhance the aesthetic and recreational values of the stream or river, values not recognized as “beneficial” in some states; and
WHEREAS, past experience has shown that inter-basin transfers can have profound, unanticipated, adverse effects on water quality, recreation, and fish and wildlife resources; and
WHEREAS, existing state and federal water laws are not always adequate to protect the instream flows of water remaining in the basin of origin; and
WHEREAS, enhancement of fish, wildlife, aesthetic, and recreational resources of the receiving basin occurring as a result of water transported through an inter-basin facility rarely provides adequate mitigation for losses of these resources in the basin of origin;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the National Wildlife Federation in annual meeting assembled March 22-25, 1979, in Toronto, Ontario, hereby expresses the belief that construction of new inter-basin water transfer facilities or new operating procedures for exisiting facilities should not be commenced until comprehensive studies and public hearings have determined the full impacts of such transfers on all natural resources, including fish and wildlife, and concluded that, even with acceptable mitigation, such transfers will not have detrimental or adverse impacts on fish and wildlife and other natural resources.