Adjusting Water Rights Between States

• Description: A report from the CWCB Director to the Association of Western State Engineers regarding adjusting water rights between the states.
• State: CO
• Basin: Statewide
• Author: Clifford Stone, Director CWCB
• Title: Adjusting Water Rights Between States
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

The very nature of our governmental structure,, the federation of
forty -eight sovereign states and the preservation of the principles
guaranteed by federal and state constitutions in the light of present
day large scale irrigation expansion, present many questions respecting
"the right of use" of water of the natural streams of the arid and semi.
arid west, The states where irrigation is practised claim the right to
control the distribution of water among users within the state without
interference from the federal government or other states, but subject to
equitable apportionment among states on an interstate stream and the
power of Congress over interstate commerce and navigation.
Controversies involving waters of an interstate stream may be ad-
justed by original s -uits in the Supreme Court of the United States, action
in the lower federal courts subject to review by the Supreme Court of the
United States, or by compacts and treaties between states. The latter
method involves also coordinated efforts on the part of state officials
to devise plans of comprehensive development,.
The principles controlling the rights to water of interstate streams
have been well established through decisions of the Supreme Court of the
United States. The question of paramount importance today arises out of
attempts by the federal government to control these interstate waters„
This we shall discuss later in the paper, First, may we note a few of
the outstanding principles which have to do with the division of water
between the states. These are very well summarized in the report of
American Society of Civil Engineers on "Interstate Water Problems" as
follows:
•.2,.