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<br />III. INTERSTATE WATER MANAGEMENT IN THE COLORADO <br /> <br />RIVER BASIN <br /> <br />The Colorado River System (mainstream and tributaries) is the princi <br /> <br /> <br />water resource in the arid Pacific Southwest. From its headwaters in the Roc <br /> <br />Mountains the Colorado River flows 1,440 miles to the Gulf of California. Its <br /> <br />drainage encompasses 244,000 square miles and includes portions of seven st tes <br /> <br />and the Republic of Mexico. The seven states are Arizona, California, Colora 0, <br /> <br /> <br />Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. (See attachment). The Colorado iver is <br /> <br />of major importance to each of those states and Mexico. It is managed pursua t to a <br /> <br />body of interstate compacts, federal laws, water contracts, state laws, a 1944 ,aty <br /> <br />and other agreements with Mexico, Supreme Court decrees, agreements and fl]deral <br /> <br />and state administrative actions, collectively generally referred to as the "Law of the <br /> <br />River." All of the Basin states have adopted the prior appropriation system of ater <br /> <br />allocation, with some remnants of the riparian system still operative in Calif or a. <br /> <br />A. INTERSTATE APPORTIONMENTS <br /> <br />There are three classes of interstate "apportionments" on the Colorado ver <br /> <br />System: (1) the interbasin apportionments made by the 1922 Colorado River <br /> <br />Compact; (2) the interstate apportionments among the Upper Basin states mad by <br /> <br />the 1948 Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, and (3) the interstate <br /> <br />apportionments of Lower Colorado River Basin mainstream water to Arizona, <br /> <br />21 <br />