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<br />001451 <br /> <br />Interior from their former level of S,362,000 acre-feet per <br /> <br />annum.76 When Upper Basin consumption approximates 5.8 <br /> <br />m.a.f., the Lower Basin will receive no more than 8.25 <br /> <br />m.a.f. at Lee's Ferry and will be compelled to adjust its <br /> <br />use. <br /> <br />But unlike the Upper Basin, the shortage of Colorado <br />River system water does not now threaten to reduce the Lower <br />Basin's use below its Article III(a) and (b) apportionment. <br />According to the current compact orthodoxy,77 the burden of <br />deficiencies is to be borne by the Upper Basin -- although <br />the Lower Basin must tighten its belt, it still retains its <br />apportioned amounts. Indeed, if the Upper Basin is required <br />to provide half of the Mexican Treaty burden at Lee's Ferry, <br />the Lower Basin would continue to avail itself of most of the <br />water of its tributaries, thereby enjoying the use of <br />substantial amounts of water in excess of the 8.5 <br />m.a.f. apportionment. In contrast, the Upper Basin appears <br />to be relegated to accepting "leftovers." <br />Such inequity was not intended by the 1922 Compact. The <br />principal purposes of the Compact were (1) to allocate the <br />water of the entire Colorado River system equally, with the <br />exception of a 1.0 m.a.f. extra allowance for the Lower Basin <br />to compensate for its tributaries, and (2) to assure each <br />Basin the opportunity to develop its water uses up to the <br />limits of its apportionment without interference from <br />development in the other Basin. The current presupposition <br /> <br />-26- <br />