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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />., <br /> <br />Article VI <br /> <br />The Commission shall determine the quantity of the con- <br />sumptive use of water, which use is apportioned by Article III <br />hereof~ for the Upper Basin and for each State of the Upper <br />Basin by the inflow-outflow method in terms of man-made <br />depletions of the virgin flow at Lee Ferry,unless the Com- <br />mission, by unanimous action, shall adopt a different method <br />of determination. <br /> <br />Article VII <br /> <br />The consumptive use of water by the United States of <br />America or any of its agencies, instrumentalities or wards <br />shall be charged as a use by the State in which the use is <br />made; provided, that such consumptive use incident to the <br />diversion, impounding, or conveyance of water in one State <br />for use in another shall be charged to such latter State. <br /> <br />s~ Colorado River Storage Project Act <br /> <br />Like all western rivers, the annual flows of the Colorado <br />River are highly erratic. In recent history, the annual flow of <br />the river at Lee Ferry has fluctuated from a high of about 23 <br />million acre-feet to a low of about 5.6 million acre-feet. With- <br />out holdover storage above Lee Ferry, there have been years in <br />which no water would be available to the Upper Basin if a delivery <br />of 75,000,000 acre-feet in every consecutive ten-year period were <br />made at Lee Ferry. This fact was fully recognized when the Colo- <br />rado River Compact was negotiated in 1922. The solution discussed <br />during the compact deliberations was the construction of a major <br />reservoir or reservoirs above Lee Ferry which would then permit a <br />relatively equalized annual flow at Lee Ferry. <br /> <br />In addition to the problem of making the specified Lee Ferry <br />water deliveries, the Upper Basin was faced with a major financial <br />task of financing Upper Basin projects which would permit that <br />basin to utilize its apportioned share of water. After the signing <br />of the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact in 1948, the unified <br />Upper Basin states began a concerted effort to obtain congressional <br />authorization of legislation which would make it possible for the <br />Upper Basin states to utilize the total water supply allocated to <br />that basin by the Colorado River Compact. The result was the <br />enactment of the Colorado River Storage Project Act in 1956. <br /> <br />Early in the game it was perceived that the Upper Basin would <br />need considerable financial assistance if it were to develop the <br />waters apportioned to it. Since large reservoirs have the capability <br />of generating considerable electrical energy, the obvious solution <br />to the financial problem was an apportionment of power revenues <br /> <br />-10- <br />