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<br />FEB-20-98 FRI 10:14 UPPER. COLORADO RIVER CUMM <br /> <br />.......1<:1.;::> <br /> <br />001378 <br /> <br />intermittently, but in mid-' 996the Upper Division States assisted in implementing regular and <br />productive ongoing seven Basin States negotiations. <br />The Upper Division States remain committed to helping the Lower Division States find <br />solutions to their water supply problems. The Upper Division States have two goals of their <br />own in this process: (1) ensure that any solution to Lowe("Division water supply problems <br />limit the uses of water in the Lower Colorado River Basin to the entitlements set forth in the <br />Colorado River Compact, as further defined by the Boulder Canyon Project Act and the United <br />States Supreme Court's opinion and decree in Arizons v.Californis; and (2) provide for the <br />continued protection of Colorado River water allocations in the Upper Basin States. The Upper <br />Division States believe Reclamation's proposed rule and implementing draft EA are a positive <br />step toward solving the Lower Division States water supply needs while still protecting water <br />entitlements and uses in the Upper Division States. <br />In the context of that background and our general statement of support for the <br />regulations and draft EA, the Upper Division States have a few specific comments on these <br />documents. The "law of the river" is a complex series of compacts, Federal laws, court <br />decisions and an international treaty. Therefore, it is sometimes difficult to be precise in <br />discussing individual elements of the "law of the river." Because of the important rights that <br />are based on the taw, however, the Upper Division States believe that precision is required. <br />Particularly in the Federal Register" Notice of Proposed Rulemaking," the Upper Division States <br />believe Reclamation has incorrectly attributed definitions and concepts in the Supreme Court's <br />decree in Arizona v. California to the Colorado River Compact. The most egregious example <br />is a sentence that appears near the middle of the first column of pag, 68493 of the Notice, <br />which states: "Under the Compact, 'consumptive use' means diversions of water from the <br />mainstream of the Colorado River, including water drawn from the mainstream by underground <br /> <br />2 <br />