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000957 ~' ^ r water run-off on the Colorado River and any of its tributaries; to engage in cooperative studies of water supplies of the Colorado River and its tributaries; to collect, analyze, correlate, preserve, and report on data as to the stream flows, storage, diversions, and use of the waters of the Colorado River, and any of its tributaries; to make findings as to the quantity of water of the Upper Colorado River System used each year in the Upper Colorado River Basin and in each State thereof; to make findings as to the quantity of water delivered at Lee Ferry during each water year; to make findings as to the necessity for and the extent of the curtailment of use, required, if any, in order that the flow at Lee Ferry shall not be depleted below that required by Article III of the Colorado River Compact; to make findings as to the quantity of reservoir losses and as to the share thereof chargeable under Article V to each of the States; to make findings of fact in the event of the occurrence of extra- ordinary drought or serious accident to the irrigation system in the Upper Basin, whereby delivery by the Upper Basin of water which it may 'be required to deliver in order to aid in fulfilling obliga~ tions of the United States of America to the United Mexican States arising under the Treaty between the United States of America and the United Mexican 2t~tes, of February 3, 1944, become difficult, and to report such findings to the Governors of the Upper Basin States, the President of the United States of l~erica, the United States Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission, and such other Federal officials and agencies as it may deem appropri- ate to the end that the water allotted to Mexico under Division III of the Treaty may be reduced in accordance ,vith the terms of such Treaty. "You will have noted that the powers of the Upper Colorado River Commission seem, in some respects, to partake of what I shall call, for lack of a more descriptive term, a semi-judicial character. In this connection, I refer you particularly to the obligation of the Commission to make findings as to certain matters of vital importance such as quantity of use of water, quantity of deliveries at Lee Ferry, the need, if any, for curtailment of use of water, and the justifica- tion, if any, for reduction of deliveries to Mexico. You vnll have noted that the powers and functions of the Commission partake also of an engineering character; in that they deal, among other things, .vith hydrological investigations and vnth the analysis, collection, and correlation of water faots which play such an important part in the Commission's work. "FinallJT, in Article I(a) of the Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, it is laid dO'YO, in part, that one of the major purposes of the Compact is to 'secure the expeditious agricultural and in- dustrial development of the Upper Basin. . . ..' The Commission has adopted a program ce2igned to carry out and achieve that purpose. In carrying out that purpose the Upper Colorado River Commission fulfills the desire of the people of the Upper Colorado River Basin for an agency that vnll interpret the needs of the Upper Basin for prompt and sound development. But it is more than that. It can, -6-