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<br /> <br />.~. <br />~~..j..A'i"< <br />~:-:~ <br />, . <br /> <br />lCP1jc, <br /> <br />October 11, 1950 <br /> <br />Mr. Silmon Smith <br />Attorney at Law <br />Raso Building <br />Grand Junction, Colorado <br /> <br />My dear Silmon: <br /> <br />Your letter of June 30,' transmitting a copy of "Analysis of Coloradots <br />Share of Colorado River and Its Use, Consumptive, Present, and Potential n, was <br />received severaJ. weeks ago. Upon receiving and reading your letter and the <br />attached analysis, I decided that .before making a reply to you, the analysis <br />deserved careful consideration. <br /> <br />In formUlating conunents on your analysis, I find that there are <br />engineering, legal, and policy questions involved. For the purpose of <br />estimating present uses of ColoradoR1ver water, I asked the engineerins< <br />staff to make certain studies for me,. Legal questions concern interpretations <br />of the provisions of the Colorado River Compact, the Upper Colorado River &8.$in <br />Compact, and the Mexican Water Treaty of 1945; and, at least indirectly, there <br />are certain questions of State water law which cannot be overlooked. I 8Dl <br />sure that you fully realize, too, that there are considerations with reference <br />to interstate relations and policies which, should not be overlooked, if Colo- <br />rado is to proceed with the development and use of its share of ColoradoR1ver <br />water. <br /> <br /> <br />In the second paragraph of your letter you state that intne pruen-- . ...~ <br />tation which I made as llLrector of t~ Colorado Water GOI1servaUon .~..~ ?'........... < <br />the President's Water Resources Policy Commission, I did not make any reteJi".. ' <br />ence to the "Amendment in 1943 of the 1937 Conservancy District Act". '1_, <br />also state that you understood this amendment constituted "the policy of the <br />State of Colorado with reference to use of water under the Coloradoiiver <br />Compaet by all conservation districts and the Bureau of Reclamation **. _'. <br />You further commented that you wer~surfrised that ~t was not contained inmv <br />statement. On pages 5 and 6 of that statemept, I d1scussed th;is Colorado <br />water policy. The first .two sentences of that discussion read~ <br /> <br />"In 1937 ,as a result ot many conferences and consideration ' <br />of the problem incident to this situation, there' was established <br />an overall State poli.cy. Broadly speaking, that policy prOVides <br />that the vested and potentinluses of water on the Western Slope <br />of the Continental Divide in Colorado shall be protected in a <br />program of Fe<ieral project development as against the exportation <br />of water from the natural' basin in the State.1I <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />----~-- <br />