7068

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 7068
• Author: Bishop, B. A. and D. B. Porcella.
• Title: Physical and Ecological Aspects of the Upper Colorado River Basin.
• USFW Year: 1980.
• USFW - Doc Type: 17-55
• Copyright Material: YES

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Institutions. In this arid basin. water is in relatively short sup-

Wyoming and the lower basin states of Arizona. california. and Nevada at

ply compared to its many possible competing uses. Consequently. as growth

the dividing point of Lee Ferry. Arizona. just downstream of Glen Canyon

and development over the years have placed greater demands on the limited

Dam (Lake Powell). It also recognized obligations to Indian tribes.

supply. decisions on allocation of waters have likewise evolved to a com-

The 1928 Boulder Canyon Project Act led to the construction of Hoover

plex state. This body of legal. legislative and administrative decisions

Dam and formation of Lake Mead. the largest reservoir on the river. The

governing the use of the Colorado is commonly referred to as the "law of

1944 Mexican Water Treaty allocated a specific quantity of water to

the river." The situation is unusually complicated since the Colorado is

Mexico. The 1948 Upper Colorado River Basin Compact allocated specific

also an international river. subject to a treaty and agreements with Mexico

quantities and percentages of the upper basin entitlement among the upper

as to quantity and quality of water delivered. Naturally. the institutions

basin states.

dealing with this resource have also become more numerous and diverse.

Uses in accordance with these allocations are complicated by water

These include seven states and their agencies. agencies of the federal

quality concerns. especially by the economic and social impacts of sal-

government. numerous irrigation districts. and municipalities. plus the

inity. These concerns were written into several USBR project authoriz-

large population and decision-making centers of Denver. Salt Lake City.

ing acts culminating in the USBR's Colorado River Basin Water Quality

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Los Angeles. and San Diego which lie outside the Colorado River BaSin.

Improvement Program (U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclama-

but within the basin's "water use" boundaries as defined by the Colorado

tion, 1974) and the 1974 Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act

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River Compact of 1922. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) of the

(PL 93-320). The principal impetus for PL 93-320 was the need to reduce

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Department of the Interior has been the major agency for.planning and con-

the salinity of the water delivered to Mexico as specified by agreement

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struction of the reservoir system of the Colorado River Basin. Uses of

between the United States and Mexico in Minute 242 in 1973 (Upper Colo-

the waters are managed by the Secretary of the Interior primarily to meet

rado River Commission. 1975). Other water quality concerns involve com-

requirements of federal legislation, interstate compacts. state-allocated

plying with the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972

water rights. and judicial decisions affecting those water rights.

(PL 92-500).

Concerns about allocation of the Colorado River water have resulted

Man's Impact on the Colorado River Basin
Because of development. the Colorado River does not now exist as the

river John Wesley Powell floated. There is no historical context which can

in a series of federal actions (Upper Colorado River Commission. 1965.

1971, 1975). Adopted in 1922. the Colorado River Compact allocated the

water between the upper basin states of Colorado. New MexiCO. Utah. and