Domenici said that realistically creates a huge cut for water programs, which he said he does not know how to fix but he will look at trying to make cuts elsewhere.

Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, chairman of the full Senate Appropriations Committee, also called for consideration of a major new dam-building program in the West — not only to solve water problems but also power problems and dependence on foreign oil.

"I was amazed to find that Brazil has changed its dependence on foreign oil from 70 percent to 17 percent . . . by having a crash program" of generating more power from hydroelectric plants at new dams, he said.

Despite the tight water budget, an official of the Central Utah Project testified its proposed funding should be adequate for the construction expected in 2005. The CUP is a system of dams and aqueducts to bring water from eastern Utah to the Wasatch Front,

Ronald Johnston, program director for the CUP Completion Act Office, said the $46.3 million in President Bush's budget would be adequate to continue construction of the Diamond Fork system (bringing Strawberry Reservoir water to Utah County), the Uintah Basin Replacement Project and various conservation and environmental projects.

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