WSP11570 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

I I 1 1 I I I I I I 1 I I I I' I I I I Cost Effective Stream-Gaging Strategies for the Lower Colorado River Basin INTRODUCTION The waters of the Colorado River have been scrutinized as a source of irrigation at least since the time of the Powell Survey (Powell, 1875). As the southwestern United States began to develop, the Colorado River was also seen as a source of municipal and industrial water supply. Because nine states, seven from the United States and two from Mexico, share the drainage basin of the Colorado River, as shown in figure 1, competition for the water became inevitable. In 1922, the drainage basin was partitioned for administrative purposes into the Upper Colorado River Basin and the Lower Colorado River Basin by an interstate compact (Colorado River Compact, 1922). The dividing line is the drainage divide between surface waters that flow into the river above Lee Ferry, Arizona, and those that reach the river below Lee Ferry. This divide is shown in figure 1. In addition to setting up the designation of Upper and Lower Basins, the compact allocated the waters of the river between the Upper and Lower Basins and among the various states represented in the partition. As an aid to the administration of the compact, certain stream-gaging stations were established by the United States Geological Survey where the flow of the main river, its tributaries, and subsequent diversions and return flows were to be measured. Continued development of the river basin and adjacent areas to which the river's waters were diverted led to still more competition and resulted in a U.S. Supreme Court ruling (Arizona vs. California, 1963) on the relative rights of two of the Lower Basin states, California and Arizona. This court decision and its attendant implementation led to a major increase