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<br />(4 <br /> <br />( <br />,t <br /> <br />For this reason the Upper Basin people, living above Lee Ferry, consider <br />the Colorado River as in good part tileir heritage. When the construction <br />of Hoover D~ and the All-hnel'ican Canal uss actively proposed sooe 35 <br />years ago, the U~per Basin people objected on the ground that the resulting <br />consll!:lptive use of uater in the LO',.ler Basin llOuld impair opportunities for <br />future upstream developments. Largely out of this situation grew the <br />ColoraQo River Compact of 1922. <br /> <br />The compact apportioned to the Upper Basin a ccnefitial consump- <br />tive.use of 7.5 million acre-feet of water per annum. It also imposed an <br />obligation on the Upper Basin not to deplete the flow below 75 million <br />acre-feet at Lee Ferry in any period of 10 consecutive years and provided <br />a formula for sharing tl~e burden of demands j.n Mex!.co later defined by the <br />Mexican Treaty. <br /> <br />Assured b;T the compac"':., the Upper Basin joined in support of the <br />Boulder Canyon project. It has since watched a rapid expansion of water <br />use in the lower Basin to the point ,ulere projects constructed and author- <br />ized no',-/ conSUllle a substantial part of the 1ol-ler B['sin's COlllpact allotment. <br /> <br />(' <br />I <br />" <br /> <br />In the meantime, development in the Upper Basin has been slower <br />because of smaller-scale projects so that today, even if all authorized <br />projects wore cCInlpleted and operating, Upper Basin use would deplete the <br />nOt, at Lee Ferry by an averaee of not more than ~"million acre-rest <br />annually. The Upper Basin States, ~)y the coopact made in 1948, have <br />apportioned amon~ tilCIllsclves the water allocQted to tile Upper Basin by the <br />Comp~ct of 1922. Thus the Upper States feel tilere is no question of ,mter <br />rights to impede further devclopuent of Ur,per Be.sin water. <br /> <br />Streamflow measur6nents show thct in d11' periods the Upper Basin <br />l4~10ut holdover storage could not consume its allotted ~ater and still <br />malee concurrently the requireCi deliveries at Lee Ferry. Over the 10-year <br />period fro" 1931 to 1940, for instance, the Upper Br,sin pi ti10ut holdover <br />storage could have depleted the virein flol! by an aver~ge of around 4,000,000 <br />acre-reet annu.:Ql~' accounting for s nQ11linal amount of water for satisfaction <br />of the Mexican Treaty. Since actual const~ptive use is expected to soon <br />approac.':1 that figure, opportunities for e:cpancied lIuter use are indeed limited <br />unless extensive storage reservoirs aro avcilaole to smooth out the erratic <br />flou of thG river, holding over water from perioe's of e.bundance for use at <br />times of short supply. Stored 'later would be released from these reservoirs <br />to the Lauer Basin to fulfill the obligations of the Com!,act. This, in turn, <br />wOlud permit unrentr~cted use of water ap~ortioned the Upper Basin. <br /> <br />The Bureau of Reclamation, ",orking in cooperation l!ith other <br />Federal agencies and the States, has formulated a plan for ~le Colorado River <br />Storage project for tile principal purpose of providing tho river regulation <br />that is necessary for the Upper Basin to approach full use of its compact- <br />allotted ,mter. Project reservoirs, located in the deep canyons of the <br />Colorado River and its prinCipal tributaries, woula also provide excellent <br />hydroelectric power sites, control sediment, and have value for fiSh and <br />lf~dlife, recreation, and other purposes. <br /> <br />1'116 <br /> <br />2 <br />