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~ UU tJ-:;. ,'}:, One hears a great deal abeut the Cempact, mere con than pre. ~lisinfermatien abeut it is plentiful. It is a complicated document. It ceuld not be simple because of the cemplex situatien which is its subject. Perhaps the wisest perspective is to. simply view the Cempact as a fact ef life. It was argued all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court and steod. In 'fact, the 1966 u.S. Supreme Ceurt case was "centinued" and a fermal' ruling was not made. The parties essen- tially settled eut of ceurt fer the same reasons private individuals faced with a lawsuit weuld. The States faced a small chance of ceming eut ef court a little better eff than they went in, a small chance ef ceming eut a let werse, the prebability of ceming eut about the same, and a 100 percent certainty that the lawyer's bill weuld be waiting regardless ef the eutcome. Celerade premised to meet the annual water delivery requirements ef the Compact. Hewever, the State refused to. fermally' acknewledge the 900,000 acre-feet "water debt" which New Mexico. and Texas maintained that Colerade has built up by allegedly failing censistently to. meet annual deliveries scheduled by the Cempact between 1939 and 1966. Celerade did promise to. attempt to. "pay eff" the alleged debt as a ' gesture ef "geed will." The ether States and the ceurt agreed to. put the case "on hold," previded that Celorade did meet its Cempact ebligatien every year. To return to the "Cempact-as-a-fact-ef-life" cencept; Valley residents who. main~' tain that the Cempact is unfair are simply wreng. These who. say that it is a darned nuisance have a pretty geed peint. Things weuld be simpler if the Valley could just use all the water it wanted to. witheut werrying abeut whether any water at all flewed dewnstream. That weuld net be fair. The fact that Some water must flew dewnstream is not even an open question. Hew much and hew that "hew much" is to be accemplished are what the arguments ate all about. A few facts abeut the Cempact may advance the, goal ef "living with it... The everall purpese ef the Cempact is to assure that the relatienship of annual flows across State boundaries which. had developed by the early 20th century is .'. maintained. This dees net mean that the same fixed abselute quantity is sup- posed to. flew across each State's beundaries every year. The terms ef the Cempact are flexible. They recegnize variations in natural flews from year to. - year and anticipate that new seurces ef water fer the Rio. Grande Basin would develep ever the years. It is werth remembering that Colerado has the most difficulty meeting its delivery requirement in years when the river's flow is high. In years ef low to. average flow, the requirements are so small that they, can be met almest witheut being noticed. The Compact also has previsiens which let the States accumulate water credits and debts, but it dees prevent any State frem accumulating so much "credit" that it could shut eff riverflew to. the dewnstream State fer 1 or several years. Such action weuld ruin thousands of farmers. Beth the Compact and the Treaty with Mexico. are negetiated agreements, one probably hears abeut as much complaining abeut them en every side ef the varieus berders. A basic rule of internatienal diplemacy appears to. apply. If all ef the parties to an agreement are unhappy with it, the agreement is almest surely a fair ene. The fact remains that meeting the Cempact requirements dees pese seme preblems fer Celorade and the San Luis Valley. The continued Supreme Ceurt case and 3