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n004r5 . . basin areas, particularly California, before the upper States could appropriate what they believe to be their fair share. Arizona v California, supra at 555. Out of the Supreme Court's 1968 decision carne the 1968 commitment to protect the Indians and non-Indians of Colorado and New Mexico through the development of the Animas La Plata water project Thus the Agreement in Principle represents a significant step forward in the national plan to preserve for the Ute Indians of Colorado as well as for the water users of Colorado and New Mexico their fair share of Colorado River water. The Agreement in Principle is the key to continuing participation by water users in Southwestern Colorado and Northern New Mexico -- both Indian and non-Indian -- to the comprehensive plan to utilize Upper Basin waters secured in the 1922 Colorado River Compact, the Colorado River Storage Project Act of 1956 and the Colorado River Basin Project Act of 1968. The water supply for the Animas La Plata project is within the apportionments of water secured Colorado and New Mexico under this national legislation. As recognized by the Supreme Court in Arizona v. California, the commitments made to the Upper Basin states, including the 1968 legislation, were required by both the great imbalance between the water demands on and water supply of the Colorado River system the high cost of water resource development in the Upper Basin. Colorado, New Mexico, and the two Ute Tribes have waited patiently, perhaps too patiently, while projects were built in accordance with the long term plans for the Colorado River. Indeed, the United States has to date expended over $1,500,000,000 for the Central Arizona Project and is planning to spend an additional $2,000,000,000 to put to valuable use Arizona's Lower Basin share of water. The time is long over due for Congress to assist the Upper Basin states of Colorado and New Mexico, and the Ute Indian Tribes. The Agreement in Principle then represents an important step on the part of the citizens of Colorado and New Mexico to establish both an extinguishment of long standing and unresolved Winters Rights claims of the Ute Indians and a fair and reasonable cost sharing to develop the Animas La Plata Project. The cost sharing commitments contained in the Agreement in Principle relieve the United States of approximately one-third of its initial federal obligation, reflect a real and significant set of promises by the States of Colorado and New Mexico, local water users, and the Tribes.The cost sharing commitments will enable the United States to honor its 1968 commitments at costs which are substantially less than the costs which have already been incurred on water projects designated for other states along the Colorado River. 2