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<br />~,. Oa0392 <br /> <br />into Mexico irrigating some lands there and then back into the United States. The <br />Gila Canal, which diverts from the left side of Imperial Dam, will irrigate the Gila <br />Project in Arizona. These works would not have been feasible without the regulated <br />water supplies provided by the reservoirs heretofore cited, which could not have been <br />built without the Colorado River Compact. Bullshead reservoir will enable the above <br />consumptive uses to take place in the lower basin without interference with the gen., <br />eration of hydroelectric ene;>gy at Hoover Dam. <br /> <br />-------- <br /> <br />The Colorado River Compact allo~~ed ~o ~he lower basin 8,500,000 acre- <br />~eet of beneficial consumptive use, and to the upper basin 7,500,000 acre-feet of <br />,eneficial consumptive use per year, the division point between the two basins being <br />i,ee Ferry, Arizona. The compact also provided that the upper basin states would not <br />C2~lete the flow of the river at Lee Ferry below 75,000,000 acre-feet in successive <br />'G-year periods. <br /> <br />In 1948 a compact was consummated among the states of the upper basin, <br />"l'J ?ona, Colorado, New MeXico, Utah, and Wyoming. The compact apportioned to each. <br />st&te what was considered its equitable share of the 7,500,000 acre-feet of benefic~al <br />consumptive use per annum apportioned to the upper basin by the Colorado River Com- <br />pact. In order for this obligation to be met and for ,the upper basin to beneficially <br />consume 7,500,000 acre-feet per annum, najor storage must be provided on the main <br />stem of the Colorado River in the upper basin and on the main tributaries thereof. <br />This storage vnll largely equate the remaining flow of water after the.upper basin <br />utilizes its full apportionment. <br /> <br />A report on the so-called Colorado River Storage Project has been sub- <br />mitted to the Secretary of the Interior by the U. S. Bureau of rtecl~nation. The <br />units of that proposed project are indicated on the map. When and if those units <br />and the>Bridge Canyon reservoir in the lower basin are constructed, the flow of the <br />Colorado River below the major developments in the upper basin .nll be largely <br />equated and large amounts of hydroelectric energy will be generated, for which there <br />is a rapidly growing market. <br /> <br />Indicated on the map is the additional depletion of the water supply at <br />Lee Ferry which can be permitted to take place by man's ~ctivities in the upper basin, <br />the amount being 5,100,000 acre-feet per year. Suoh depletion .nll be the result of <br />'Ghe construction of a multitude of projects, principally in the four upper basin <br />states, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. <br /> <br />Little of the proposed development in the upper basin which has been <br />described above would have been possible without the Colorado River Compact and the <br />Upper Colorado River Compact. LIajor development in the upper basin had reached a <br />stand-still because of the lack of apportionment of the use of the waters of the <br />Colorado River among the states. Actually, the Commissioner of Reclamation had in- <br />dicated that he could not find a dependable water supply for any major project, which <br />it is his function to do under the 1939 Reclamation Act, unless the upper basin sta~ <br />apportioned the upper basin's share of the beneficial consumptive use of the Colorado <br />River among themselves. The members of the Upper Colorado River Co~~ission, which <br />vas created by the Upper Colorado River Compact, are working harmoniously together. <br />The Commission is also working harmoniously rn th relevant governmental agencies to <br />bring about a rational development of the upper basin of the Colorado River, which <br />could not have been done without the two compacts. <br /> <br />The Colorado River Compact of 1922 started a chain reaction with re- <br />spect to the negotiation and consummation of compacts, which is still in process. <br /> <br />-5- <br />