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.' ~. " q .!.. V;..; ,. acre.feet annually in California for non-agricultural. domestic uses on Bureau of Land Management (BLM) campsites. concession areas, and cabin sites involved in the recreational program of BLM, The reservations are subject and/or subordinate to all existing rights under the Decree, existing water contracts, the Colorado River Compact. and other applicable documents, Interior based its order on Article II (D) of the Decree which provides that the United States is not prohibited from making future additional reservations of mainstream water subject to prior rights, The practical effect of this order is that it is an interim water right only, for the period of time prior to completion of the Central Arizona Project and any cutback of use by California, and that a permanent water supply for the Federal lands in question will still have to be obtained, The Federal.State Task Force on Ground Water Return Flows to the Lower Colorado River continued to monitor the activities of the U, S, Geological Survey and the Bureau of Reclamation in this cooperative program, The program is designed to measure the quantities of unmeasured subsurface return flows to the Lower Colorado River which are not presently credited to the diverters, During 1973, data collection and analysis continued in the Yuma Valley area. and river stage gages were installed, Underground water level measuring installations in the Parker Valley were completed and data collection has begun, In Palo Verde Valley, site selection for these installations has been completed, On December 28, 1973, the 14 Department of the Interior approved a temporary land use permit to allow the Chemehuevi Indian Tribe to use the major portion of the buffer strip of land between the westerly Lake Havasu shoreline and the reservation for "use in connection with tribal programs," No environmental impact statement was filed prior to this action, The Board is concerned that transfer of the lands to the tribe may be considered as justification for the allocation of additional water rights to the Chemehuevi Indian Reservation, which would work to the detriment of existing Colorado River water users in California, Rainbow Bridge National Monument Litigation The Board's previous Annual Reports discussed this case, Friends of the Earth. et ai" v, Ellis Armstrong. et a/., and the effect it could have on the usable storage capacity of Lake Powell and the interests of the Colorado River Basin states, The purpose of this suit was to compel the Federal Government to limit the elevation of Lake Powell to less than 3,606 feet. thus reducing its usable storage capacity to less than one.half of its designed capacity of 25 million acre.feet. In February 1973. the U, S. District Court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and the defendants appealed to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, In August 1973, the Appeals Court overruled the District Court and the plaintiffs petitioned the U, S, Supreme Court for a review of the case in October 1973, In January 1974 the Supreme Court refused to hear the petition, thus effectively sustaining the efforts of the Secretary of the Interior to beneficially use the total storage capacity of Lake Powell. Rainbow Bridge near Lake powell.