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<br />I <br /> <br />II <br /> <br />935 <br /> <br />The reservoir will make useable at least enough water to <br />irrigate 30,000 acres of new land and it will provide a supple- <br />mental supply for a substantial area of land lying below it in <br />Colorado. Some of the lands above the reservoir could receive <br />a small benefit by exchange. <br /> <br />It is not believed that this reservoir or any other reser- <br />voir is essential to enable Colorado to comply with the terms of <br />the Colorado River Compact by preventing Colorado River water <br />from flowing out of Colorado into a state which is not a Colo- <br />rado River Basin State. I have heretofore said that there is no <br />immediate necessity for a reservoir for that purpose because so <br />long as several million acre-feet of regulated water is passing <br />through power wheels in the lower Colorado River Basin to gener- <br />ate kilowatt hours and flowing to Mexico, some of which is used <br />by Mexico and much of which flows to the Gulf of Lower California <br />unused, there can be no complaint on the part of the Lower Basin <br />if any of the Upper Basin states exports water from the basin <br />and permits it to flow into another state even thought the water <br />is utilized only for the generation of hydro-electric energy. <br />This is because of the provision of sub-paragraph (e) of Article <br />III of the Colorado River Compact which reads: <br /> <br />"(e) The states of the upper division shall not withhold <br />water and the states of the lower division shall not re- <br />quire the delivery of water which can not reasonably be <br />applied to domestic and agricultural uses." <br /> <br />Even after full development of the Colorado River has been <br />made, it is very doubtful whether the Lower Basin would have a <br />legitimate complaint if there passed out of an Upper Basin state <br />into a state which is not a Colorado River Basin State return <br />flow resulting from the use of Colorado River water. Return <br />flow is a natural phenomenom incident to the use of water for <br />irrigation. A certain amount of water must be passed out of an <br />irrigated area in order to maintain the salt balance. Otherwise <br />the lands within the area would gradually deteriorate. That <br />part of the return flow which is passed out of an area to main- <br />tain the salt balance can be considered a beneficial use of water. <br />At the present time not much more than enough water is passing <br />out of the South Platte River basin properly to maintain the salt <br />balance in the Colorado portion of the basin. This being the <br />case, some increment of imported water must also pass out of the <br />basin to keep the balance maintained. Because of the above facts, <br />in my opinion, there will never be the necessity for a reservoir <br />to be constructed in Colorado to prevent a return flow from im- <br />ported Colorado River water from reaching non-Colorado River <br />Basin States. This is different from opinions that I have ex- <br />pressed in the past. The reason for my changed position is <br />apparent from the facts outlined above. . <br />