The United States Congress approved the Central Arizona Project (CAP) in 1968, which called for the construction of Orme Dam at the confluence of the Salt and Verde Rivers, 18 miles northeast of Phoenix.
[5] In 1977, US President Jimmy Carter recommended that Orme Dam and two other projects on the Gila River system be removed from the CAP plan because of their negative impacts and cost.
However, political pressure from the Arizona congressional delegation, particularly senators Barry Goldwater and Dennis DeConcini and Representative John Rhodes, led to the reconsideration of Orme Dam and alternatives in a multi-million dollar project, the Central Arizona Water Control Study.
The controversy led to the creation of the Central Arizona Water Control Study (CAWCS) in 1979 after Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus requested that the Bureau of Reclamation identify a replacement.
[6] The Orme Dam project was finally abandoned in 1981, after over 10 years of struggle and legal battles.