PUB00046

• Year: 2001
• Title: Layprson's Guide to the Colorado River
• CWCB Section: Interstate & Federal
• Author: California Water Education Foundation
• Description: Layprson's Guide to the Colorado River
• Publications - Doc Type: Photos

Negotiations

Since the Gold Rush. the tradition of prior appro-
priation, or ~first in time, first in right," has dominated
Western water law. Those who developed the
Colorado firsf would stand to benefit for years to
come. It is interesting to note that the Mormons may
have been the first western seWers to develop use
of the Colorado River system and. consequently.
preceded any development of the Colorado by
California. But it was California's aggressive rush to
appropriate Colorado River
water for Imperial Valley
farmland and urban davel.
opment on the southern
California coast that first
worried the other basin
states. If California estab-
lished priority rights by
using large amounts of the
Colorado's flow, other
states might be forced to
leave enough water in the
river to satisfy those rights.

Initially. California farmers
irrigated the Imperial Valley
using a canal that ran partly
through Mexico. The Ameri-
cans could use the canal by
giving the Mexicans half the
water. But Mexico's control over the water supply
worried the Americans, who wanted to build a canal
from the Colorado that was entirely within the United
States - an "All-American" canal.

Lee:'j' Ferry is Ihe diriding
point lH'lWeell the Upper
and Lmrer Basins.

A series of events in the early 1900s led to subse-
quent and significant Colorado River development:

. The U.S. Reclamation Service (renamed the
Bureau of Reclamation in 1912) was established
in 1902 with the passage of the Reclamation Act.
which initiated the federal reclamation movement
to develop regional water supplies for farming,
flood control and hydropower. Eventually, a
comprehensive plan to develop dams and reser-
voirs on the Colorado evolved by 1928.

In 1905, the headgates of the Imperial Valley
canal were breached by flood waters from the
Gila River. All of the Colorado poured uncontrolled
into the valley for 18 months. destroying homes
and thousands of farm acreage and flooding a
natural depression known as the Salton Sink,
creating today's Salton Sea. The flood
intensified the push for the All-American Canal;
the Mexican Revolution of 1910 provided further
impetus,

8

Several years later, Los Angeles sought a power
supply for its growing population. and the potential
for hydroelectric power development made the
city a strong proponent of a proposed large dam
on the lower Colorado River.

In 1920. a seven-state compact was proposed. The
timing was excellent: California wanted a dam to
ensure a steady supply of water and flood control,
and the other basin states were afraid the project
would be approved because of the Californian's
strong arguments for flood control and hence.
wanted to protect their interests.

In 1922, negotiations on an interstate compact began
in earnest. Despite enormous controversy, represen-
tatives of the seven states reached a monumental
agreement to divide the watershed into an Upper
and Lower Basin. Never before in U.S. history had
such a compromise between states been achieved.
The Upper Basin was "apportioned" 7.5 million acre-
leet of beneficial consumptive use annually while the
Lower Basin received 7.5 million acre.feet. plus the
right to increase beneficial consumptive use by 1
million acre-feet per year. However. the Upper Basin
states are required to send to the Lower Basin states
75 million acre-feet of water over each successive
1 O-year period.

Despite Arizona's refusal to ratify the compact, a six-
state compact was endorsed by the federal
government and became effective in 1929 through
the Boulder Canyon Project Act. Arizona legislators
were divided over the compact, but in general, the
state did not think the compact was fair because it
did not allocate water to each of the states. (Arizona
was concerned over state rights to tributaries -
namely the Gila River - which were not addressed
in the Compact.)

The Upper Basin states agreed to support the
authorization of Hoover Dam and the All-American
Canal only if California would agree to limit its use
of Colorado River water. The Boulder Canyon Project
Act set the basis for restricting California's use to
4.4 million acre-feet and no more than half of any
surplus water - still the largest block of the water for
any basin state, however - and required, before
he dam could be built. that the state buy all the
electricity that would be generated from the dam.
California's Legislature passed the "California
Limitation Act'. in March 1929 which limited
California's apportionment at 4.4 million acre-feet
plus one-half of any surplus water.

Before California was allowed to receive water under