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<br />r ,., II <br />~;j ",., <br />72 METROPOLITAN WATER DISTHICT <br /> <br />, <br /> <br />J <br /> <br />sumptive use for the lower basin may be on the order of only <br />1 to 2 per cent due to return flow uncertainties. <br />In addition to the main Colorado River water uses listed in table <br />14 recent U. S. Bureau of Reclamation reports indicate miscel- <br />]aneous present consumptive uses averaging 170,000 acre-feet <br />annually on lower basin tributarie8> in Nevada, Utah, New Mexico <br />and Arizona (except Gila River). On the basis of the quoted con- <br />sumptive use definition, considered properly applicable in Arizona <br />as in the remainder of the Colorado River basin, the beneficia] <br />consumptive use in the Gila basin in norma] years has been deter- <br />mined as about 2,300,000 acre-feet annually. The above normal <br />rainfall and runoff of the Gila basin in 1949, finally breaking the <br />long drouth that was especially severe in 1947 and 1948, indicate <br />that the Gila's beneficial consumptive use in 1949 again reached or <br />slightly exceeded the rounded average of normal years, though CUr- <br />rent records of surface and pumped ground-water consumption are <br />not as yet avaihlble as a basis for a final determination. A com- <br />bination of this approximate Gila basin value, plus other tributaries <br />as mentioned, with the records of table 14 indicates that present <br />lower Colorado River basin diversions and project developments <br />in 1949 involved the beneficial consumptive use of not less than <br />6,400,000 acre-feet annually. distributed by states as follows: <br /> <br />LUWER BASIN STATES <br /> <br />COLORADO RIVER SlSTf.l\l <br />BENEflCIAL CONSUMPl'lH U."F. <br />ACIlE-FEET <br /> <br />Arizona .._____.. <br />California ......_ <br />Nevada <br />New l\tfexico _ . <br />Utah <br /> <br />_ __....2,863,000 <br />.....3,450,000 <br />32,000 <br />30,000 <br />45,000 <br /> <br />Total.... _ <br /> <br />..6,420,000 <br /> <br />This total use of about the same amount as in the previous year, <br />represent~ 86 per cent of the Compact apportionment of 7,500,000 <br />acre-feet, or including the additional 1.000,000 acre-feet by which <br />the lower basin is permitted to increase its "firm" water use, 76 <br />per cent of the total available supply considered as firm under the <br />Compact. This ratio is in contrast with a present upper basin use <br />of 27 to 30 per cent, depending on whether the "depletion at Lee <br />Ferry" or lldiversions le8s returns to the river" interpretations of <br />beneficial consumptive use are applied. The listed total for Cali- <br />