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TABLE 3. (Continued) A. B. Laws, compacts, treaties and other decisions Year Action Rationale I effect Dams, diversions, and other structural modifications Year Action Rationale I effect environs watera ; Havasu to Southern authorized Davis CA) Dam 1943 Gila Project (Imperial 1948 Upper Colorado River Apportioned upper Res. to lands along Basin Compact basin water to Colorado and Gila signed upper basin states rivers) opened and AZa 1946 Headgate Rock Diver- 1956 Colorado River Authorized sion Dam Storage Project Flaming Gorge, (Colorado R., CAI Act passed Glen Canyon, AZ) completed Navaho and 1950 Morelos Dam Curecanti projects (Colorado R., in upper basin Mexico) completed 1964 Arizona v. Apportioned lower 1953 Davis Dam (Colorado California Supreme basin water R., AZ/NV) com- Court decision between AZ, CA pleted issued; Canyon and Nva 1963 Flaming Gorge Dam lands National Park (Green R., UT) and established Navaho Dam (San 1968 Colorado River Basin Authorized Central Juan R., CO) com- Project Act Arizona Project and pleted passed five upper basin 1964 Glen Canyon Dam projects (Colorado R., AZ) 1969 National Environmen- Required Bureau and Fontenelle Dam tal Policy Act of Reclamation to (Green R., WY) passed work under provi- completed sions of acts and 1977 Bypass drain consult with wild- (Colorado R. to life authorities Gulf of California) 1973 Endangered Species opened Act passed 1978 Crystal Reservoir 1974 Colorado River Basin Controlled salinity (Gunnison R., Salinity Control Act of Colorado R. CO); Curecanti passed water Unit (name changed 1982 Reclamation Act Raised limitation on to Wayne Aspinall amended land owned by Storage Unit 1980) Bureau of Reclama- completed tion water users Under construction Yuma Desalting Plant; central Arizona Project (L. Havasu to Pheonix) Irrigation of lower Gila and Colorado Valleys Irrigation of Indian lands along Colorado R. Storage for irrigation of Mexicali Valley, Mexico Regulation of water delivery to Mexico; flood control Multipurpose Multipurpose Diverting brackish water from Colorado R. Storage Desalting water; sup- plying water to cen- tral AZ and to cen- tral NV and UT. aSee Graf (1985) for legal water entitlements to basins, states and Mexico. bSee Graf (1985) for heights and storage capacities of major high dams in the Colorado system. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, created by legislative action in 1902 (Table 3A), is responsible for construction and operation of projects that support economic develop- ment, primarily irrigation agriculture and industrial water uses (Graf 1985). Fradkin (1981) referred to five phases of the Bureau's "conquest" of the Colorado River. First, it constructed several small, non-controversial projects and followed these with the larger Strawberry Valley Project, Utah; Gunnison Tunnel, Colorado; Roosevelt Dam, Ari- zona; and Laguna Dam on the lower Colorado (Table 3B). Plans to enhance irrigation of the Imperial Valley by build- ing a new canal (within the borders ofthe United States) and large reservoirs on the river to store water, control floods, and produce power led to fears in upper-basin states that the lower basin would claim rights to all water in the river under the doctrine of prior appropriation. Discussions culminated in the Colorado River Compact, which divided waters between the upper and lower basins (above and below Lee Ferry, respectively) on the basis of estimated virgin flows at Lee Ferry from 1896 to 1921. Negotiators based alloca- tions on an annual flow of at least 22.20 kIn3 (Hundley 1966) . Average annual virgin flow at Lee Ferry is now esti- mated at 20.72 km 3 for the pre-Compact period and 17.52 kIn3 since 1922 (Upper Colorado River Commission 1984). The Colorado's waters were overcommitted by this first attempt at apportionment. 229