WSP09503

• File Number: 8278.400
• Description: Title I - Mexican Treaty
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Date: 5/10/1962
• Author: CWCB - D. Hamburg
• Title: Mexican Water Treaty Negotiations Pertaining to the Colorado River
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

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canal permits delivery of water to California lands entirely
through American territory and thus free of any Mexican control.

The Colorado River Compact was signed at Santa Fe on
November 24, 1922. While it is not within the purview of this
paper to discuss that Compact suffice it to say for the purposes
of the Compact, the Colorado River is divided into an upper basin
comprising the drainage area above Lee Ferry and a lower basin
comprising the drainage area below that point. The States of
Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming form the upper division
for the purpose of the application of the provisions of the Com-
pact and the States of California, Arizona and Nevada form the
lower division. The Compact was ratified by six states, including
California,and the California Legislature passed an act agreeing
to the limitation of California uses as described by the Boulder
Canyon Project Act. Subsequently, in 1944, Arizona ratified the
Compact.

The Boulder Canyon Project Act was approved by Congress
on December 21, 1928, and pursuant to it contracts for the gener-
ation and disposal of hydroelectric power to be generated at
Boulder Dam and contracts for the use within the Lower Basin of
the waters to be impounded at Boulder Dam were negotiated from
time to time in conformity with the provisions of the act. Pur-
suant to the provisions of the act, Boulder Dam, the Imperial
Diversion Dam, and the All-American Canal were constructed.
Boulder Dam, with an original total capacity of about 31,000,000
acre-feet, was completed in 1935, and the Imperial Dam and the
All-American Dam were completed and placed in operation early in
1942.

NEGOTIATIONS WITH MEXICO

In 1924 the Congress passed an act authorizing the
President to designate three special commissioners to cooperate
with representatives of Mexico in a study regarding the equitable
use of the waters of the Rio Grande below Fort Quitman, Texas.
Mexico was unwilling to discuss the Rio Grande unless, at the
same time, the problem of the Colorado River was also discussed.

By joint resolution approved March 3, 1927, the scope
of the investigation provided for by the Act of May 13, 1924,
was extended so as to include the Colorado River and the resolu-
tion specifically provided that the purpose was to secure informa-
tion on which to base a treaty with Mexico relative to the use
of the waters of the two rivers. permission was also granted to

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