WSP10867

• File Number: 8278.400
• Description: Title I - Mexican Treaty
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Date: 3/1/1962
• Author: IBWC
• Title: Mexican Water Treaty -Appendix E -Water Supply
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

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construction than that, lirst, the 1,700,000 acre-feet of wat<?r
r<?fcrr<?d to in subparagraph (b) of article 10 includ<?s and is not
in addition to the 1,500,000 acr<?-f(:et 01 water the d<?liv<?ry of
which is guaranteed under subparagraph (a) th<?reof; second, that
und<?r the provisioi1s 01 this article Mexico can acquire no right
to any quantity 01 ;;WLer beyond the 1,500,000 acre-f<?et referred
to in subparagraph (ill 01 that article other than the right to use
such additional wa'cor as might otherwise be prcsem in the river,
without any additional obligation on the part 01 the Unit<?d States,
and other than th<? right to us<? not in excess of an additional
200,000 acre-feet of watD\" to be delivered according to schedule
if and when the United States authoritios (not Mexico) decide
that there exists a surplus of wa.ter in excess of the amount neces-
sary to supply users 01 the United States and the guaranteed quantity
of 1, 500, 000 acw-Ieet annually to Mexico; and, third, that th<?
quantities allotted to i'!,exico under articie 10 may be composed
of any waters of the:> Colorado River from any and all sources and
whatever their origin. The committee is firmly of the opinion that
the language of these two articles is clear and that there can be
no occasion for any misunderstanding wHh respect to their mean-
ing or application.
"Complaint 1S made by representatives of the State of California
that the pending tWere-c.' may adversely aLrect the future ability of the
United States to fuHill the proviSions of conlracts between th<? S<?cre-
tary of the Int<?rior and various interests in California for deliv<?ry of
the waters of the Colorac'o River. These contracts call for a total
delivery to Californiil 01 5,362,000 acre-feel per year. California
is now USing only a lialo mor<? than half of the waters for which she
has contracted. The contracts make the delivery of these waters
contingent upon their availability under the Colorado River Compact
and fheBoulacrcan'lon Project Act. The compact, to which all
the seven States of the Colorado Basin are:> parti<;s, allocates 7,500,000
acre-feet of water a y<?ar to the upper basin, which compris<?s portions
of the States of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, and
8,500,000 acre-Icet to the lower basin, consisting principally of
areas in the States o{ Arizona, California, and N<?vada, with small
portions also of the Stales of New Mexico and Utah. The compact
then makes provision for supplying any rights which may accrue by
twaty to the United Mexican States. Thuse rights are first to be
supplied out of surplus over and above the specific apportionments
made in the compac', and, if this surplus should prove to b8 insuf-
ficient, any deficiency 1S to be borne equally by the upper and lower
basins in the United S'laLcs. The compact {urth0r provid8s for a
division of the surplus alter October 1, 1963, if and when eith8r
basin shall have reached its total b<?n<?1icial consumptiv8 use within

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