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<br /> <br />J <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Agenda Item 15 <br />July 23-24, 2002 Board Meeting <br />Page 3 of 10 <br /> <br />January 11,2002 memoranda to the Board. The questions have been restated for continuity and the <br />substantive updated information is in bold print. These questions have been discussed with the <br />Attorney General's Office and our analysis to date indicates the following. <br /> <br />1. The Colorado River Compact states explicitly that the consumptive use of water apportioned to <br />the Upper Basin is for uses exclusively in the Upper Basin. Similarly, the consumptive use of <br />water apportioned to the Lower Basin is for exclusive use in the Lower Basin. The tenn "Upper <br />Basin" as defined in Article II (f): <br /> <br />"Means those parts of the states of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming <br />within and from which waters naturally drain into the Colorado River System above Lee <br />Ferry, and also all Darts of said states located without the drainage area of the Colorado <br />River Svstem which are now or shall hereafter be beneficiallv served by waters divertedfrom <br />the system above Lee Ferry. " <br /> <br />To illustrate, because water from the Colorado River Basin can be delivered to other parts of a <br />Colorado River Basin State, transmountain diversion projects like Colorado-Big Thompson, <br />Fryingpan-Arkansas, and San Juan-Chama are possible. The policy question is, can those states <br />situated partially in both the Upper and Lower Basins (Arizona, New Mexico and Utah) use <br />Upper Colorado River Basin water in the Lower Colorado River Basin portion of the state? Staff <br />is not aware of any project of this type actually in place. However, New Mexico has proposed <br />the Navajo-Gallup Project and Utah has discussed a pipeline from Lake Powell to the St. George <br />area in the Virgin River Basin. The Virgin River flows directly into Lake Mead. <br /> <br />Guidance on this question is based on close reading of Articles II and Article III ofthe Colorado <br />River Compact. Article III (a) of the Colorado River Compact states: <br /> <br />"There is hereby apportioned from the Colorado River System in perpetuity to the <br />UDDer Basin and to the Lower Basin resDectivelv the exclusive beneficial <br />consumvtive use of 7,500,000 acre feet of water per annum, which shall include all <br />water necessary for the supply of any rights which may now exist. " <br /> <br />In response to past water marketing proposals, most of the Colorado River Basin states have, at <br />least implicitly, interpreted this provision as meaning that each Basin's apportionment is for <br />beneficial consumptive use exclusively within that Basin. This interpretation is buttressed by <br />Article VIII, which states: <br /> <br />"Present peifected rights to the beneficial use of waters of the Colorado River System <br />are unimpaired by this compact. Whenever storage capacity of 5,000,000 acre feet <br />shall have been provided on the main Colorado River within or for the benefit of the <br />Lower Basin, then claims of such rights, if any, by appropriators or users of waters in <br />the Lower Basin, against appropriators or users of water in the Upper Basin shall <br />attach to and be satisfied from water that may be stored not in coriflict with Article <br />III <br /> <br />All other riflhts to beneficial use of waters of the Colorado River System shall be <br />satisfied solelv from the water aDDortioned to that Basin in which they are situate. " <br />