WSP08519

• File Number: 8281.300
• Description: Colorado River Studies and Investigations - Colorado River Consumptive Uses and Losses Report
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 6/1/1991
• Title: Colorado River System Consumptive Uses and Losses Report 1981 - 1985
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

Consumptive Uses and Losses

INTRODIlICTION

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The Colorado River System is composed
of portions of seven States--Arizona,
California, Colorado, Nevada, New
Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. It has a
drainage anja of about 242,000 square
miles and represents about one-fifteenth
the area of the United States,

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This report i,ncorporatesannual
estimates otconsumptive uses and
losses of water from the system from
1981 througl11985. Wherever available,
water use reports prepared in
accordance ~th legal requirements
concerning the operation of the Colorado
River were utilized. Base data needed
to estimate o'nsite consumptive uses
were taken l~gely from existing reports
and studies 4nd from ongoing programs.
Where curreJ?,t data were not available,
estimated values were developed by
various teclu\iques and reasoned
judgment.

In general, niethodology followed the
techniques nQrmally used within the
system for estimating water use.

Nothing in this report is intended to
interpret the provisions of the Colorado
River Compact (45 Stat. 1057), the
Upper Colora!io River Basin Compact
(63 Stat. 31). the Water Treaty of 1944
with the United Mexican States (Treaty
Series 994; 59 Stat, 1219). the decree
entered by th~ Supreme Court ofthe
United States' in Arizona vs, California,
et al, (376 U,S, 340), the Boulder
Canyon ProjeCt Act (45 Stat. 1057), the
Boulder Canyon Project Adjustment Act
(54 Stat. 774;143 U.S.C. 618a), the
Colorado River Storage Project Act,
(70 Stat. 105;'43 U.S.C. 620), or the
Colorado Rive:r Basin Project Act
(82 Stat. 885;43 U,S.C. 1501).

AUTHORITY

The authority for this report is
contained in Public Law 90-537, the
Colorado River Basin Project Act of
1968. Title VI, Section 601(b)(1) of the
act reads as follows:

(b) The Secretary is directed to:

(1) Make reports as to the
annual consumptive uses and losses of
water from the Colorado River System
after each successive 5-year period,
beginning with the 5-year period
starting October 1, 1970, Such reports
shall include a detailed break down of
the beneficial consumptive use of water
on a State.by.State basis. Specific '
figures on quantities consumptively used
from the major tributary streams
flowing into the Colorado River shall
also be included on a State.by.State
basis. Such reports shall be prepared in
consultation with the States of the
Lower Basin individually and with the
Upper Colorado River Commission, and
shall be transmitted to the President,
the Congress, and to the Governors of
each State signatory to the Colorado
River Compact.

PLAN OF STUDY

No plan of study was submitted for this
report. The same procedures as were
outlined in the previous 5-year plan of
study were used in preparing this
report,

STUDY REPORTING AREAS

The estimated drainage area of the
Colorado River System in the United
States is about 242,000 square miles.