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no alleged debt situation mean that every year's scheduled delivery must be met. Until some progress is made paying off the alleged debt, Colorado and the Valley have no. "breathing reem." Failure to meet the requirement fer just one year, even fer a very small ameunt of water and regardless of the reasons, weuld allow Texas and New Mexico to reepen their suit. Knowledgeable seurces believe that what would prebably come eut of that action would be the assignment ef a River Master to the Rio Grande. The River Master weuld be responsible enly fer seeing that the 'terms ef the Cempact were met. This weuld remove the administration ef many water-r.elated issues from lecal control. Government management ef small ,scale irrigation systems eften does not werk eut very well for the local users. It is in the Valley's interest to work eut a system en the local level which allows the Cempact to. be met and to aveid having a system imposed en it frem "above." For the short term, the Celerado State Engineer's office is respensible for the difficult and thankless task of making sure the Compact is cemplied with. Like most holding actions, the effert has to be undertaken piecemeal 'and year to. year. Almost every attempt by the State Engineer's office to regulate the flow of water in the river or even to. try to develop the guidelines of a system to accomplish this has met vigerous resistance. The response of those who see their vital interests threatened is cempletely reasonable. The response is always, "Why me?'.. To which the State Engineer respends, "We have to. start somewhere." To which the individual responds, "See you in court." Each individual's act is reasenable and no one would argue with his right to bring his own complaint before the law. The net result, hewever, has been conflict, the polarization ef various interest greups, and the "climate of economic fear" which was mentioned earlier. Until a system is established which will assure a source of water to. reliably meet the annual Cempact requirement and to make progress in "paying off" the alleged debt, this situation will continue. It is .., a situatien which is causing the Valley real ecenomic hardship. The hardship is . not related to the quantity of water required. The hardship is the result of -- ~the failure to define a system fer previding the water and the uncertainty which +this has caused. Farmers have quite enough risks to. take in the course of a normal year's business. The weather, markets, the econemy in general, and many other things make farming a gamble under the most secure conditions. An addi- tional area of uncertainty, whether er net adequate water will be available at the needed time in the grewing season, has direct economic consequences. It affects the decisions of individual farmers en whether or not to put a crop in the field and their ability to secure the financial backing to run their busi- nesses fer a year. The attempts to. remove that area ef uncertainty by actual or threatened legal action drains large amounts of money out of the Valley, too. In 1966, Texas and New Mexico breught the Cempact dispute to. the Supreme Court. Valley residents realized that the terms of the Compact might actually be enferced. Tbe need was recognized for a local organization to protect the Valley's water rights and to develep programs which would allow the histeri- cally established framework of Valley agriculture to centinue while still pro- viding reom fer new economic development. At the urging of Valley residents, 4