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<br />6
<br />
<br />STANFORD LAW REVIEW
<br />
<br />[Vol. '9: Page,
<br />
<br />1 million acre-feet; Curecante Dam on the Gunnison River, also with
<br />storage of nearly I million acre-feet and with an installed hydroelectric
<br />generating capacity of 152,000 kilowattsjand the gigantic Glen Canyon
<br />Dam on the main stream at Page, Arizona, storing 26 million acre-feet and
<br />producmg 800,000 kilowatts of electric power. A number of irrigation proj-
<br />ects are under construction in the Upper Basin and more are authorized
<br />but have not yet received appropriations for their construction.'.
<br />
<br />5. Transbasin diversions.
<br />
<br />The waters of the Colorado and its tributaries in the Upper Basin have
<br />long been used for transbasin diversions." Early diversions were made from
<br />the Strawberry River, a tributary of the Duchesne, into the Bonneville Basin
<br />to the west and from the Colorado to the South Platte and Arkansas water,
<br />sheds in eastern Colorado. Early in the 1920'S, Denver, which desired addi-
<br />tional water to support its growing munitions industry, considered large
<br />diversions totaling over 400,000 acre.feet to augment its supply. In urging
<br />negotiation of the 1922 compact, Denver stated: "We have no other source
<br />of water than the Colorado River."" The cities of Pueblo and Colorado
<br />Springs and southeastern Colorado farming interests also urged diversion
<br />of goo,ooo acre-feet per year from the Gunnison into the Arkansas Basin."
<br />At present, the largest Upper Basin transbasin diversion is the Colorado-
<br />Big Thompson project, which is being constructed by the United States
<br />Bureau of Reclamation and which supplies Denver and the eastern slope
<br />with water from the Colorado River.
<br />Transbasin diversions Were a factor considered by the parties to the 1948
<br />compact in arriving at a state's share of the waters of the Colorado River
<br />system. Agricultural interests near the streams wanted to confine use of
<br />the state's share to those adjacent lands," but the prevailing \'iew in the
<br />compact negotiations was that the state had to be regarded as an integral
<br />unit and that out-of.basin growth, often industrial, should be considered
<br />in allocating the water to the states."
<br />Colorado's transbasin diversions totaled 412,328 acre-feet in 1959, an
<br />amount representing steady yearly increases from 1949, when only 109,064
<br />acre-feet were diverted. Utah diverted 1II,034 acre-feet in 1959, a figure
<br />
<br />39. 8 UpPu CDLO. RIvE. CO)o('N ANN. REP. 14-63 (1956-1957).
<br />",,0. 10 1912, U5.OOO acre-feet per year wue being taken outside the Upper Basm. CoLOIlADO
<br />IUVEk 51.
<br />.41. I RECORD. Meeting No.3. at 57.
<br />42. I id., Meeting NO.3. at 66. Colorado Springs indicated it might get wOlter from Vern-'er's
<br />project. but Pueblo cbimed it was in "despuate nero of w~ter and there remains no water to be de-
<br />"do~ 00 the Eascun slope." Ibid.
<br />...3. 1 id., Meeting No. 3, at 95.
<br />...... I id., Meeting NO.3. at 92; Uf I id., Meeting NO.3. at 97 (Utah "can't go without some
<br />. tr.ansmounuin divc-sions.").
<br />
<br />November 1966)
<br />
<br />which represented
<br />81,332 acre-feet w<
<br />
<br />B. Lower Basin
<br />I. physical des.
<br />
<br />The geograph)
<br />cial Master in Ari:
<br />marized here. Th,
<br />rado River itself a
<br />and flows westerly
<br />national boundar\
<br />range province, a J
<br />taining a series 0'
<br />ing valleys and dt
<br />Upper and Lowe:
<br />Hoover Dam the
<br />by deep canyons a
<br />level areas suitabl.
<br />habited. West of tl
<br />and Mexico, but .
<br />Salton Basin, a Jar
<br />Some of the earli.
<br />sides of the bord"
<br />arid, but the soil j
<br />trcmely producti\
<br />plies are supplem
<br />ci3lly in Arizona,
<br />serious overdraft.
<br />The principal
<br />tlle main stream (
<br />B3sin. Tributarie
<br />modest contribut
<br />In m:my years th,
<br />from 1942 to 195'
<br />occurred in the y.
<br />the main stream,
<br />the point of confl
<br />
<br />"5. u Uppu em
<br />,,6. Su Report of
<br />(hereinafter cited as AI,
<br />...7. U.S. DEP'T 0
<br />(H}63) [hucinafter citl
<br />...8. MtuIt'T'S RtpOI
<br />
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