Compacts, Decrees, and Treaties Affecting CO's Water

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6. The Supreme Court Case of Arizona vs. Ealifornia As has previously been stated, the state of Arizona for over twenty years after the signing of the Colorado River Compact in 1922, stubbornly refused to ratify the compact. The primary reason for this refusal was the fact that the waters of the Gila River in Arizona were clearly subject*to apportirmment.pursuafit'to the terms of the compact. Arizona had argued during the compact negotiations that the Gila River should not be considered as part of the Colorado River System for compact purposes. The compact became such an explosive political issue in Arizona that no polit- ical candidate dared run for public office without condemning the Colorado River Compact. At least one governor threatened to use armed forces (the Arizona National Guard) to prevent the con- struction of reservoirs on the Colorado River which would benefit California. The substantial agricul.tural industry of Arizona is sustained almost entirely by diversions from the Gila River and by heavy ground water withdrawals, the latter constituting the major source. Aggravated by the drouth period of the 1930's and the expanded agricultural production of the World War II period and since, the state of Arizona has become increasingly alarmed about its rapidly dwindling ground water supply. In such a climate, the state of Arizona began a massive efforC to import waters from Che Colorado River to the Central Arizona Basin. That effort finalized into the project now known as the Central Arizona Project. The authorization and construction of the Central Arizona Pro ct posed a formidable legal dilemma to the state of Arizona. It gd not ratified the Colorado River Compact and had refused to enter into a compact with the Lower Basin states as suggested by Congress in the Boulder Canyon Pro,ject AcC. Arizona attempted to solve this sticky problem by asking the United States Supreme CourC to determine its rights on the Colorado River. The Supreme Court originally refused to accept jurisdiction. Arizona finally decided that it must ratify the Colorado River Compact if it wexe to have any standing in court or in the Congress. This it did during World War II by an act of its legislature on February 24, 1944. After this ratification, Arizona renewed its efforts to get congressional, authorization of the Central Arizona Project, which would export water from the lower Colorado River into the Central Arizona Basin. Since there was sti11 no agreement among the Lower Basin states as to how their apportioned waters would be divided among those states, the Arizona effort was strenuously ogposed by California and to varying degrees by the other states of the Colorado River Basin. As a result of this opposition, the House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs on April 18, 1951, adopted a resolution to the effect that iC would not consider any legislation to authorize the Central Arizona Project until the -12-