BOARD02144

• Board Meeting Date: 8/14/1947
• Description: Minutes and Resolution
• Board Meetings - Doc Type: Meeting

69

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Morning Session, August 15, 1947

The me eti ng
Geor ge J. Bailey

reconvened end was cal1ed to order byVice-Chairman
at 9:50 A.M.

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C. L. Patterson, Chief Engineer of the Board, wes called upon to
make a report on the engineering phases of the Arkansas River end Upper
Colorado River Basin Compact negotiations. He emphasized the necessity
for obtaining and enalysi'V!; factual informatl on which was of vital con-
cern in arrivirg at Compact terms. He stated that with respect to 'the
Arkansas River Compa ct now in the negotia tion stege, among other things,
two objectives should be accomplished:

(1) That there should be no interfereI1ce wi th established
and existing uses of water from the River; and

(2) kny n"", uses of wster supply made avsilable by John
Martin Reservoir should be equit.bly distributed between Colorado
end Kans a s.

As Chairrren of the Engineering Commi ttee for Colorado, appointed
by the Colorado River Basin Compact Commission, Iilr. Patterson explained
that the principal problems, al trough involving meny engineering ramifi-
cations, can be simply stated. "It is necessary," he said, "to determine
the relative rilShts an::! relative obligations of the States above Lae
Ferry under the "existing Colorado River Com~ct."

He refElrred to a consumptive use study on the Colorado Ri ver which
is being made, the completion of which is necesssry, in his 'jud!'}l1ent,
bEl fore a Compact cen be consummeted. This pM se of thEl engineering
study is in addition to II'8ny other items which are being considered by
the Engineeri ng Comni ttee.

He seid that the Committee wes meeting frequently and a lot of
till>> was being devoted to the t!:lsk by the Bur"au of Reclamation and
the five participating States, that necessarily the ..,ork was slow as
it involved an enormous amount of information and data, the accuracy
of which must be confinned as nearly ss possible.

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He cal1ed attElIltion to the study of natural losses incident to the
conveyance of "'ater to Lee Ferry And said thAt this action had not been
covered by the Bureau of Reclamation in its Colorado River Basin Report.
"Our assignmElIlt," he explained, "is to determine the amounts of water
wIlic h have re.eha d Lae Ferry, v'here it comes from, p.nd to d eternUne how
much water Vi"ould have reached Lee Ferry during a peri <Xl selected for
study purposes had there been no diversions of water, nor US", nor loss
from reservo ir s."

A ful1 transcript of l~r. Patterson's statement appears in the
stenographic report of the meeting on file in the office of tha Board.

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