WSP11930

• File Number: 8403.400
• Description: Platte River-River Basin Legislation-Compacts
• Basin: South Platte
• Water Division: 1
• Date: 11/4/1948
• Title: Republican River Compact and Negotiations-Summary Data
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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020':9

Colorado Water Conservation Board
. prepared.vember 4, 1948
SUMMARY DATA
REPUBLICAN RIVER COMPACT

Negotiated and signed by Compact Commissioners and Federal Representative
at Lincoln, Nebraska, December 31, 1942.

Ratified by the State of COlorado, Barch l5, 1943.
Ratified by the State of Kansas, February 22, 1943.
Ratified by the State of Nebraska, February 24, 1943.

Ayproved by the Congress of the United States, May 26, 1943.

Compact Commissioners:
M. C. Hinderlider, Commissioner for Colorado.
George S. Knapp, Commissioner for Kansaa.
Wardner G . Scott, Commissioner for Nebraska.
Glenn L. Parker, Representative of the United States.

Major Purposes of the Compact:

n* * '* '* to provide for the most efficient use of the waters of
the Republican River Basin * * * for multiple purposes; to provide for an
equitable division of such waters; to remove all causes, present and future,
which might lead to controversies; to promote interstate comity; to
recognize that the most efficient utilization of the waters within the Basin
is for beneficial consumptive use; and to promote joint action by the States
and the United States in the efficient use of water and control of destructive
floods".

Area Involved:

The Basin is all the area in Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska,
which is naturally drained by the Republican River, and its tributaries, to its
junction with the Smoky Hill River in Kansas. The total drainage area is
approximately 25,000 equare miles.

Background Data:

The ]e gislatures of COlorado, Kansas and Nebraska, in 1941,
ratified a former Compact allocating the waters of the Republican River Basin.
That Compact was later approved by the Congress of the United States. The Act
providing for Congressional approval, however, was vetoed by the President. The
vet..) message of the President set forth, in substance, that the Compact failed
to protect adequately the interests of the United States.

The Federal government has claimed jurisdiction over the waters
of the Basin for the production of hydro-electric energy, the maintenance of
navigable capacity within and without the BaSin, and in the interest of flood
control, all of which in general are of a non-consumptive character.

The approved new Compact, however, is designed to protect the
States' interests in these waters by a recognition that the most efficient
utilization of the waters within the Basin is for beneficial consumptive use,
There will be no Federal jurisdictien over these waters that would interfere with
the full. beneficial consumptive use of the waters within the Basin, except \lI1CWr
circumstances, which are determined in hearings and consultations as being in the
interest of best utilization ~f such waters for multiple purposes,

The Compact places foremost emphasis on requirements for domestic,
irrigation, industrial and recreational purposes, but not precluding the
opportunity for multiple use development and for flood control.