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F <br />Consumptive Uses and Losses <br />TERMINOLOGY <br />The Colorado River is not only one of the most highly controlled rivers in the world, but is <br />also one of the most institutionally encompassed. A multitude of legal documents, known <br />collectively as the "Law of the River," effect and dictate its management and operation. <br />Major documents include: <br />Colorado River Compact - -1922 <br />Boulder Canyon Project Act - -1928 <br />California Limitation Act - -1929 <br />California Seven Party Agreement --1931 <br />Mexican Water Treaty - -1944 <br />Upper Colorado River Basin Compact - -1948 <br />Colorado River Storage Project Act - -1956 <br />United States Supreme Court Decree in Arizona vs California -1964 <br />Colorado River Basin Project Act - -1968 <br />Minute 242 of the International Boundary and Water Commission,' <br />United States and Mexico - -1973 <br />Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act -- 1974, amended 1984, 1995, and 1996 <br />The Colorado River System is defined in the Colorado River Compact of 1922 as "...that <br />portion of the Colorado River and its tributaries within the United States, ", whereas the <br />Colorado River Basin is defined as "...all of the drainage area of the Colorado River <br />System and all other territory within the United States of America to which waters of the <br />Colorado River System shall be beneficially applied. ". The compact divided the Colorado <br />River Basin into two subbasins- -the "Upper Basin" and the "Lower Basin," with Lee Ferry <br />as the division point on the river. Lee Ferry, located in Arizona, is a point in the main stem <br />1 mile below the mouth of the Paria River. For the purpose of this report, the Great Divide <br />Basin, a closed basin. in Wyoming, and the White River, also a closed basin, in Nevada <br />have not been considered as part of the Colorado River System since flows from these <br />basins never reach the Colorado River. Diversions from the system to areas outside its <br />drainage area are considered herein as exports and have not been classified by types of <br />use. <br />Beneficial consumptive use is normally construed to mean the consumption of water <br />brought about by human endeavors and in this report includes use of water for municipal, <br />industrial, agricultural, power generation, export, recreation, fish and wildlife, and other <br />purposes, along with the associated losses incidental to these uses. <br />The storage of water and water in transit may also act as losses on the system although <br />normally such water is recoverable in time. Qualitatively, what constitutes beneficial <br />consumptive use is fairly well understood; however, an inability to exactly quantify these <br />uses has led to various differences of opinion. The practical necessity of administering the <br />various water rights, apportionments, etc., of the Colorado River has led to definitions of <br />consumptive use or depletions generally in terms of "how it shall be measured." The Upper <br />Colorado River Basin Compact provides that the Upper Colorado River Commission is to <br />determine the apportionment made to each State by "...the inflow- outflow method in terms <br />0 of manmade depletions of the virgin flow at Lee Ferry... ". <br />