Laserfiche WebLink
Er <br />I0-1 <br />RESOLUTION OF THE <br />UPPER COLORADO RIVER COMMISSION <br />Regarding the Use and Accounting of'Upper Basin Water Supplied to the-Lower Basin in <br />New Mexico by the Proposed Navajo - Gallup Water Supply Project <br />WHEREAS, part of the State of New Mexico is within the Upper Basin and part is <br />within the Lower Basin as. defined in Article II of the Colorado River Compact (45 Stat. <br />1057); and <br />WHEREAS, New Mexico has proposed the Navajo - Gallup Water Supply Project to <br />divert water from the Upper Basin to serve communities located within the Lower Basin in <br />New Mexico; and <br />- - __- - -. --- WHEREAS,- New Mexico needs to provide a water supply for municipal,. industrial, <br />commercial and domestic purposes to Navajo and non - Indian communities located within <br />the Lower Basin in New Mexico that do not have an adequate Lower Basin source of <br />water; and <br />WHEREAS, Subsection 303(d) of Public Law 90 -537, the Colorado River Basin <br />Project Act, authorized a thermal generating plant to be located within the State of Arizona <br />and provided that if the plant was served 'by water diverted from the drainage area of the <br />Colorado River system above Lee Ferry such consumptive use of water would be a part of <br />the consumptive use apportioned to the State of Arizona by Article 111 .(a) of the. Upper <br />Colorado River Basin Compact (63 Stat. 31) regardless of whether the plant was located in <br />the Upper Basin or the Lower Basin; and <br />WHEREAS, the states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming all support the <br />proposed Navajo - Gallup Water Supply Project; but the states are not in agreement as to <br />whether, under the Law of the River, New Mexico may use a part of its Upper Basin <br />apportionment to serve uses in the Lower Basin portion of New'Mexico, without obtaining <br />the consent of the other states. However, in the spirit of comity, and without prejudice to <br />the position of any state regarding these unresolved issues, all the states support and to <br />the extent necessary consent to the Navajo - Gallup Water Supply Project in New Mexico. <br />NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Upper Colorado River Commission that <br />the States of Colorado, New Mexico; Utah and Wyoming, support and to the extent <br />necessary consent to- the diversion of water from the Upper Basin for use in the Lower <br />Basin solely within New Mexico via the proposed Navajo - Gallup Water Supply Project; <br />provided, that any water so diverted by said project to the Lower Basin portion of New <br />Mexico, being a depletion of water at Lee Ferry, shall be a part of the consumptive use <br />apportionment made to the State of New Mexico by Article Ill (a) of the Upper Colorado <br />River Basin .Compact; and <br />BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the use of any return flows which result from use <br />of water through the Navajo - Gallup Water Supply Project within the Lower Basin shall be <br />subject to applicable laws; and <br />