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Whalen to Tri -State Dam. As we have said, this is the pivotal section of the river around which the central
<br />problems of this case turn. Apart from the Kendrick project, the demand for water is as great in this short
<br />section of the river as in the entire preceding 415 miles from North Park to Whalen. The lands irrigated
<br />from the river in this section total 326, 000 acres as compared with 339,200 acres in the upper valley -main
<br />river and tributaries. The consumptive use on this 326,000 acres far exceeds that of the upper sections
<br />combined. we have me tioned the various canals which take out from the river in this section. The Special
<br />Master found their annual requirements to be 1,072,514 acre feet. The total net seasonal requirement of all
<br />the canals diverting in this section was found to be 1,027,000 acre feet. In the ten year period from 1931 to
<br />1940 this net seasonal requirement of 1,027,000 acre feet largely exceeded the supply in three years and
<br />was less than the supply in seven years. 9 In those seven years the seasonal flows passing the Tri -State dam
<br />were far less than the excesses, indicating as the Special Master concluded that canal diversions in the
<br />section were greater than the requirements. He pointed out that if the diversions during the period had been
<br />re- [325 U.S. 589, 605] stricted to the determined requirements and if the excess had been held in storage
<br />in the upper reservoirs and released indiscriminately to all canals as needed, irrespective of storage rights,
<br />any surplus water would have been conserved and would not have passed Tri- State. He estimated that
<br />under that method of operation the total supply (excluding any supply for Kendrick) would have been
<br />approximately sufficient for the section.
<br />But on the basis of the 1931 -1940 supply the seasonal requirement of 1,027,000 acre feet cannot be met by
<br />natural flow alone and without storage water. The Special Master roughly estimated the deficiency of
<br />natural flow as follows for the period of 1931 to 1940:
<br />Deficiency of Year Natural Flow* 1931 552,952 acre feet 1932 305,000 " " 1933 251,980 " " 1934 841,488
<br />" " 1935 666,058 " " 1936 495,737 " " 1937 489,975 " " 1938 501,991 " " 1939 450,908 " " 1940 751,244 "
<br />* "Natural flow ", as used by the Special Master and as used in this opinion, means all water in the stream
<br />except that which comes from storage water releases.
<br />On that basis the average seasonal supply of natural flow available in this section was only 48 per cent of
<br />the total requirement. In 1933, the year of largest flow, it was only 75 per cent. In general the practice has
<br />been to allow storage right canals having early priorities to receive natural flow water on a priority basis,
<br />using storage water merely as a supplementary supply. In this area 90 per cent of the lands have both
<br />natural flow and storage rights. 10 Seventy -eight per cent of the lands having stor-
<br />10 Of this 90 per cent, 68 per cent are project lands and 32 per cent have Warren Act contracts. [325
<br />U.S. 589, 606] age rights are in Nebraska, 22 percent in Wyoming. Of the lands having natural flow
<br />rights only 49 per cent are in Nebraska and 51 per cent in Wyoming.
<br />As respects priority, the canals (listed later in this opinion) fall into thirteen groups, seven in Wyoming and
<br />six in Nebraska. The earliest in priority are some canals in Wyoming, then some in Nebraska, then others in
<br />Wyoming and so on.
<br />The exceptional features of this section of the river were summarized by the Special Master as follows:
<br />'(1) the great concentration of demand in a short compact section, (2) the presence of water, both natural
<br />flow and storage, to which Nebraska users are entitled under Wyoming appropriations, (3) the total
<br />dependence of Nebraska State Line Canals and the North Platte project canals upon water originating in
<br />Wyoming and Colorado, (4) the joint use of canals to serve both Wyoming and Nebraska lands, (5) the
<br />location in Wyoming of the head gates and works which divert great volumes of water for Nebraska, (6) the
<br />distinctly interstate scope and character of the water distribution without any real interstate admin stration.'
<br />The Special Master made a detailed study of the requirements of each canal in this section and the
<br />diversions of each during the 1931 -1940 period. We need not recapitulate it. The nine Wyoming canals and
<br />the Tri- State canal fared well. A comparison of the average seasonal diversions with the seasonal
<br />requirements shows that they had an excess supply for the ten year period -122 per cent and 111 per cent
<br />respectively -the former having a deficiency in only one of the ten years, the latter a deficiency in three. For
<br />the rest of these canals it appears that the average seasonal diversions supplied from 78 per cent to 98 per
<br />cent of their seasonal requirements. The Ft. Laramie was short in eight of the ten years, Gering, Ramshorn
<br />and Northport in seven each. [325 U.S. 589, 607] Tri -State Dam to Bridgeport, Neb. Nebraska originally
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