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<br />I - <br /> <br />/~ s. <br />.' 0 <br />~, - <br />P <br />Y <br /> <br />... ,:'1'~, 877 <br />V tI ~\... ' <br /> <br />1 <br /> <br />~ <br /> <br />. ( <br /> <br />'-" <br /> <br />/. <br /> <br />EDITORIAL <br />ARIZONA DAILY STAR <br />Tucson, Arizona <br />July 3, 1965 <br /> <br />~" <br /> <br />COLORADO HAS MORE TO LOSE THAN GAIN <br /> <br />An historic friendship between colorado and Arizona from the <br />standpoint of division of the Colorado River could be brought to <br />an end if the hasty and ill-considered advice of former Colorado <br />Gov. Ed Johnson to his state to sue over the waters of the river <br />should be followed. colorado has more to lose than to gain by a <br />suit. <br /> <br />The colorado River Compact protects both basins of the Colorado <br />River. It requires only that the Upper Basin, of which Colorado is <br />a part, deliver during each lO-year period 75 million acre-feet of <br />water to the Lower Basin, of which Arizona is a part. <br /> <br />If the compact is cracked by colorado, the state most likely <br />to take advantage of it is California, on a prior use basis. Crack- <br />ing the compact might be followed by cracking the Mexican Water <br />Treaty, which puts a ceiling on Mexican use. With no ceiling, Mexico <br />might successfully maintain that she could use the whole flow of <br />the river, instead of l~ million acre-feet. Colorado would be the <br />biggest loser. <br /> <br />An acre-foot, by the way, is about enough water <br />an area the size of a football field one foot deep. <br />unit of large water measurement. <br /> <br />needed to cover <br />It is a standard <br /> <br />If colorado sues, the suit could be enlarged, by the enmities <br />it would m~ce, to challenge the transmountain diversions in colorado, <br />Arizona thus far historically has taken the stand that each state <br />should determine how it will use its own water, and has refused to <br />abet any fight on colorado's diversions of Colorado River water, <br />which normally flows into the Pacific Ocean, to Eastern Colorado <br />and the Atlantic watershed. <br /> <br />There are many political aspects to quarrels over the Colorado <br />River. The politics of the river often has been devious and dirty. <br />~Jhat is needed throughout the whole area drained and served by the <br />Colorado River is a realization that dirty and devious actions do <br />not serve anyone's interest. <br />