10. The project. The project proposed for the Kansas River Valley includes: (a) The early construction of flood-control works for the protection of Topeka, Kans., and Lawrence, Kans., at costs of about $2,015,800, and $349,200, respectively, and the construction when economically justified of similar work at Salina, Kans., and Junction City, Kans., at about $742,000 and $662,000, respectively. (b) The investigation of the possibilities of water storage in a system of reservoirs of small or moderate size on tributaries of the Kansas River at a cost of about $100,000. (c) The continued study of stream-flow and ground-water conditions at a cost of about $85,000. (d) The provision of technical assistance and leadership in the solution of local problems of erosion control and land use. A COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR THE IMPROVEMENT AND THE GREAT LAKES REGION REPORT OF THE REGIONAL TECHNICAL ADVISORY SUBCOMMITTEE THE GREAT LAKES REGION REPORT OF THE REGIONAL TECHNICAL ADVISORY (Submitted by Capt. T. Dodson Stamps, Corps of Engineers, chairman) SECTION I. GENERAL 1. Scope of report.-A comprehensive plan for the utilization of the water resources of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin does not lend itself to division into a number of separate projects, since but one large basin is included within the drainage area. Hence this report outlines the development of the basin as one large project, with a number of items of work. Numerous small valleys drain into the Great Lakes or the St. Lawrence River, but no valley is of sufficient importance to be considered as a separate project or to be included as such in a national plan. These valleys have, however, been carefully investigated and items of work therein which are justified are included in the plan. 2. Organization and procedure.-The membership of the subcommittee is as as follows: Department of Agriculture.-W. N. Sparhawk, Forest Service; C. F. Clayton, Bureau of Agricultural Economics. Interior Department.-N. C. Grover, chief hydraulic engineer, Geological Survey; A. W. Harrington, district engineer, Geological Survey. War Department.-Max C. Tyler, lieutenant colonel, Corps of Engineers, United States Army; T. Dodson Stamps, captain, Corps of Engineers, United States Army. Due to the limited time available in comparison with the breadth of the field to be covered, the work of the members of the subcommittee has been largely individual or by departmental groups, the members from each Department attempting to furnish the information needed from their Department and to reflect its views as accurately as possible, particularly in the fields of its primary interests. For this reason, the opinions, conclusions, and recommendations embodied herein do not necessarily represent the studied judgment of each individual member. They do represent in every instance the departmental viewpoint as conceived by the members from the Department which has the most information on the subject or the principal functional responsibilities thereunder. The data presented herein, including estimates of cost, have been taken from the best available sources, but are not the work of the subcommittee itself. 3. Description.-The Great Lakes are the source of the St. Lawrence and form with it a water system extending from the interior of the continent to the sea. Lake Superior, the uppermost and largest of the Great Lakes, discharges into Lake Huron through the rapids of St. Marys Falls and the St. Marys River. Lake Michigan is connected with Lake Huron by the wide and deep Straits of Mackinac. Lake Huron discharges into Lake Erie through the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, and the Detroit River. Lake Erie discharges into Lake Ontario through the Niagara River. From Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence flows 533 miles northeast to Father Point, which marks its transition into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The first 115 miles of the river is on the international boundary between Canada and the United States; the remainder of its course is through Canadian territory. The city of Montreal is 183 miles downstream from Lake Ontario. The drainage area of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River contains about 157,000 square miles within the United States, and covers parts of 9 States. The Lakes provide a storage reservoir of 94,000 square miles. The average annual rainfall is about 32 inches. The accompanying map shows the principal features of the basin. (See accompanying map.) 4. Uses of water in the basin. The dominating value of water in this basin relates to navigation as shown in detail below. The present navigational interests on the Great Lakes themselves are of major importance. There is in addition the future possibility of a channel of sufficient depth to permit ocean-going ships to pass from the Atlantic Ocean to Great Lake ports by way of the St. Lawrence River. Subsidiary outlets for navigation from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi and to the Hudson already exist and should assume greater importance as a result of proposed deepening and further improvements. These canals depend in part for their water supply, respectively, on Lake Michigan and Lake Erie. It must be recognized that the problems of municipal water supply are controlling in this as in all regions of the country. The Great Lakes furnish supplies of water of first quality for municipal uses and already more than 10,000,000 people in the basin obtain their domestic water supplies from the lakes and rivers of the region through major municipal water supply systems. A serious consideration in connection with the surface water supplies of the region lies in the danger to such supplies from sewage pollution. The further watersupply development which is certain to take place in this basin will eventually require the abatement of sewage pollution through the construction of suitable disposal plants. The recent loans of Federal funds by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the Public Works Administration for water-works projects in this division aggregate $12,519,500. The applications still pending aggregate $15,825,000. Water-power development is of major importance, especially in connection with the improvement of the St. Lawrence for navigation and the further development of the power resources of Niagara River. The proximity of the Niagara-St. Lawrence region to one of the important industrial centers of the country and to New York, Boston, |