WSP00250

• File Number: 8220.700
• Description: Colorado River
• State: CO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Date: 11/1/1966
• Author: Charles J. Meyers
• Title: The Colorado River
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

Vol. '9: Page,

er Basin and,
'e, the Upper
r Basin with-
:r Basin use.
cI1terests that
I would pre-
re.
ire necessity
:nt, the Jor-
Ie Colorado,
t time. Seri-
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er 9 to No-
ungrateful
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President
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os defini-
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issued JUDe
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IAL ST'U.up

THE COLORADO RIVER

I'o,'emher 1966J

"is ddined as including the river and its tributaries in the United States;
~eafter, the compact deal~ with the ~ystem, except in" a few instances
'here it explicitly deals WIth the mam stream. The Colorado RIver
; in" is defined as including not only the natural drainage area of the
.~r system but any other territory in the United States to which the waters
flf the river are beneficially applied. Thus, it contemplates transbasin diver-
~ons. Article II also divides the basin into two sub,basins, selecting as the
~ivision point Lee Ferry, Arizona-a recognition of the natural division of
the drainage area into upper and lower basins with diverse economic inter-
ests. Finally, "domestic use" is defined to exclude hydroelectric power gen-
eration.
Article III contains the apportionment, which is designed to reserve
water from the system for future development in each basin. Article III(c)
recognizes the possibility of a treaty with Mexico requiring the delivery
to her of Colorado River water, and it provides for the discharge of the
treaty obligation by the two basins. Article III (d) establishes the dUly of
the Upper Basin to deliver a specified quantity of water to the Lower Basin.
Other provisions of this article deal with future division of water not aJ>-
portioned in the compact, setting forth the conditions and procedures for
initiating a further apportionment.
Article IV (b) is relevant to this study because it establishes a preference
for agricultural and domestic uses of Colorado water over use for power
generation. Article V requires certain state and federal officials to cooperate
in gathering and disseminating information regarding run,off and use of
system water. No compact provision establishes a commission or other
permanent agency for administration of the agreement. Instead article VI
contcmplates the appointment of ad hoc commissioners to settle contro-
versies arising between the signatory states. The concluding paragraph of
this article preserves the states' rights to pursue other modes of settlement,
a choice of remedies reiterated in article IX, which specifically preserves
the right of the states to litigate controversies arising under the compact.
One other article of the compact is relevant to this study. Article VIII
ueals with the rights of downstream users against upstream users in the
eVent that storage should be provided for the benefit of the former. After
declaring that present perfected rights are unimpaired by the compact,
article VIII in effect transforms such Lower Basin rights into rights against
tlle reservoirs. The compact accomplishes this change while protecting
present perfected rights by conditioning the substitution upon the con-
struction of reservoirs of sufficient size to satisfy existing claims of up to
5 million acre-feet. In fact, the reservoir that was constructed (Lake Mead
at Hoover Dam) had a capacity of 32 million acre-feet.

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