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<br />C,) <br />(;) <br />l\) <br />( ) <br />~ <br />l-'o <br /> <br />6 <br /> <br />Due largely to land reclamation projects the acreage of irrigated land <br /> <br />nearly doubled by 1920, at which time growth began to level off, <br /> <br /> <br />acreage increasing by only 1500 acres (6 km2) between 1920 and 1965 <br /> <br />(u.s. Bureau of Reclamation, 1971; p. 12). <br /> <br />Although irrigation had begun in both the Upper and Lower Basins <br /> <br />at about the same time, development of the southern region was initially <br /> <br />slower largely because of the difficulties of diverting a river with <br /> <br />such large fluctuations in flow. However, beginning with the first <br /> <br />large scale diversions through the Imperial Valley Canal in 1901, <br /> <br />development of the Lower Basin proceeded rapidly. <br /> <br />1.2.3 Development of the Institutional Setting <br /> <br />The basin states were active in determining surface water rights <br /> <br />in the form of the doctrine of prior appropriation. In 1902, the Fed- <br /> <br />eral Reclamation Act paved the way for developing a general body of <br /> <br />rights on the federal level, and authorized the Secretary of the In- <br /> <br />terior to develop water resources (U.S.C., 1902; see also U.S.C., 1968). <br /> <br />In 1922, Lower Basin water interests proposed before Congress an <br /> <br />enormous storage reservoir and hydroelectric power project, later to <br /> <br />become Hoover Dam. This same year the Upper Basin, fearing that the <br /> <br />Lower Basin would accumulate rights to a majority of the river flow, <br /> <br />desired the formulation of some agreement concerning the right to use <br /> <br />Colorado River water. <br /> <br />The water rights dispute that developed between the Upper and <br /> <br />Lower Basins, and which strains negotiations even today, has resulted <br />