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The Upper Basins' Political Conundrum: A Deal is Not aDeal northwestern northern and eastern boundaries of the Colorado River Basin, the climate of the basin ranges from arid steppes to deserts. Very small portions of the basin also lie in Mexico, although these desert drainage areas contribute no flows to the river. What is important is that the , mainstem of the Colorado River flows into Mexico on its way to the Gulf of California and is an important water resource to that country. Nearly all of the flow of the river arises in the upper portion of the Colorado River Basin. The average annual undepleted flow of the river at Lee Ferry, Arizona, which is the dividing point between the upper and lower basins, is about 15 million acre-feet per year.33 The average supply which arises in the tributaries below that point is in dispute to some extent, but averages no more than 3 million acre-feet per year, and likely is less. The Historical Agreements 34 The lower reaches of the lower mainstem35 of the Colorado River were used for commercial navigation to a small extent in the early years of this century. However, the primary interest of Arizona and California 100 years ago was to dam the lower mainstem for flood control and water conservation storage so that they could irrigate their fields and provide water to their growing population centers, the principal ones of which were outside of the basin (especially in southern California). Concerns on the part of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming (the "Upper Division States" 36), and even Arizona and Nevada, about the rate of ~ UPPER COLORADO RIVER COMMISSION, FORTY-EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT 21- 28 (1996). 94 Unless noted to the contrary in subsequent footnotes, this summary is drawn from Handley, The West Against Itself.• The Colorado River -- An Institutional History, in NEW , COURSES FOR THE COLORADO RIVER -MAJOR ISSUES FOR THE NEXT CENTURY 9 (G. Weatherford and F. Brown ed.s 1986). ~ In this paper, the "lower mainstem" of the river will mean the mainstem of the Colorado River downstream from the present location of Hoover Dam in the Black Canyon east of Las Vegas. ~ Article II of the Colorado River Compact defines the "States of the Upper Division" as the States of Colorado, New Meadw, Utah, and Wyoming, while the "States of the Lower Division" is defined to mean the States of Arizona, California, and Nevada. For the purposes of this paper, these will be shortened to "Upper Division States" and "Lower Division States," respectively. Codorado River Compact in DOCUMENTS ON THE USE AND CONTROL OF THE WATERS OF INTERSTATE AND INTERNATIONAL STREAMS 53 (T. Witmer ed. 1968) [hereinafter T. WITMER]. 14