Protection of Lower Colorado River water quality needs comprehensive legislation and adequate funding for a major effort like programs underway in the Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes, local officials told a hearing held by the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Water and Power in Tucson on May 27. The Colorado River is the major water resource in the arid southwestern United States. It is the source of drinking water for 25 million people throughout southern California, southern Nevada, Arizona, and Mexico. The river provides irrigation water for almost two million acres, fish and wildlife habitat and water-based recreation for millions of people.

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