WSP12578

• File Number: 8200.300.40.A
• Description: Colorado River Basin - Legislation-Law - Compacts - Colorado River Compact
• State: CO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 7/1/1986
• Author: John U Carlson - Alan E Boles Jr
• Title: Contrary Views of the Law of the Colorado River - An Examination of Rivalries Between the Upper and Lower Basins - John U Carlson and Alan E Boles Jr - 07-01-86
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

0014.27

law of the river, has developed to govern the River and

allocate its water among the Colorado Basin states and

between the United states and Mexico.

The cornerstone of

the law of .th~ river, the Colorado River Compact of 1922,
mat~lf"i'a..li~~e~l.;- principally as a result of fear of a recurrence
o,!::'JIObds that devastated parts of the lower River in 1905-07

and again in 1916.

Ironically, though, the condition which

has most troubled the law of the River since its inception

has been the opposite problem:

insufficient quantities of

water.

Despite the apparent intentions of the framers of the

1922 Compact, the burden of these deficiencies is often

assumed to fall largely on the states of the Upper Basin. As

the director of Colorado's natural resources department

recently assessed this predicament, "The ultimate problem for

the Upper Basin is how to build a future on the right to

leftovers."7

Perhaps, however, the more pertinent and

fundamental question is really whether the Upper Basin should
have to build its future on the right to leftovers, instead

of an equal portion of this co~on resource. The objective

of this paper is to explore briefly the salient features of

the law of the River and surVey the prospects for correcting

its most glaring inequities.

II. THE PRINCIPAL PARTS OF THE LAW OF THE RIVER

A. The Colorado River Compact of 1922

-2-