WSPC06768 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

001809 The obligation of the upper division not to withhold is certainly no broader than the right of the lower basin to require the delivery of that water. The meaning of the prohibition on the upper basin should be measured by anyone reading that section of the compact only in terms of what it means so far as the rights of the lower basin to require the release of that water is concerned. unless the lower basin can reasonably use that water for agricultural or domestic purpose it cannot demand the water. That appears very clear. For example, it seems obvious that the lower basin could not de- mand the release of that water solely for the purpose of generating power at Hoover Dam. As Delph Carpenter said: It should be construed with paragraph (b) of article IV. In other words, according to Mr. Carpenter, the compact means that power claims by the lower basin cannot compel the upper basin to turn down any water which cannot reasonably be applied to domestic and agricultural uses in the lower basin. This permits the first use of the waters of the upper basin for the generation of power, limited only by the agricultural and domestic demands in the lower basin. The apportionment of water to the upper division States is made, to use the language of the compact, in perpetuity. It is submitted by the Department that that apportionment in article III(a) of the com- pact would be largely a nullity if the upper division States are denied the right to store water to equalize the commitment made under article III (d) of the compact. It would mean that the upper division States could store only water which could be put to use directly for agricultural and domestic purposes in the upper division. These will be very small reservoirs, relatively speaking. In drought periods then these upper reservoirs would have to be emptied to fulfill the 75-million acre-foot commitment to the lower division. It is submitted that this is not a reasonable interpreta- tion of article III(e) , which the Honorable Herbert Hoover stated was meant to prohibit only unreasonable storage of waters. It is incon- ceivable that the apportionment to the upper division could ever be fully utilized under this interpretation of article III (e) of the compact. The second basic question raised by the statement of Governor John- son would prohibit the generation of electric power in the upper basin from waters which could not be used for domestic and agricultural purposes in that basin. In other words, the upper division States would be denied the right to use the water as it flows down the stream to the lower basin States for the purpose of generating elec- tricity, however temporarily that water might be stored in order to accomplish that purpose. 6