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.,,_.R....IICI~R.I".tlons and wat.r atorage The long and. . Just right, too little and too much are the possible water conditions along the Colorado River for the Central Arizona Project. Just right, according to the V,S. Bureau of Reclamation, is a "normal year" and the CAP would get 1.5 million acre-feet of water, its maximum share froJ,l1Arizona's yearly entitlement of 2.8 million acre- feet. In a normal water year. Lake Mead behind Hoover Dam would be more than half full, 7.5 million acre- feet" would be avilable for the three Lower Basin state~ - Arizona, California and Nevada - and 1.5 million acre-feet would be available for Mexico. Too little would be a "shortage year," .)n a shortage year, 6.4 million acre-feet would be available for the Lower Basin states, 1.5 million acre- feet for Mexico and Lake Mead would be less than halHul!. Arizona would get 1.7 million acre-feet, of which 400,000 would be for the CAP, Too much would be a "surplus year." : ,In a surplus year, such as 1983, more than 7,5 million acre-feet would be available for the Lower Basin states, Mexico would get 1.5 million acre-feet, piUs a share of floodwater, and Lake Mead would spill excess water. Arizona would get its 2.8 million acre- feet plus half of the surplus, and the CAP would get almost 2.2 million acre-feet. I . . . the short of it By the reckoning of all interests, the Colorado River at times will not have enough water to go around to all who have claims on it. When that happens - and no one knows exactly when it will - the Central Adzona Project will be the biggest loser in the Lower Colorado River Basin. There are two reasons for this: . First, the right to surface water is based upon the order in which it was put to use. The CAP's claim was made after almost all others. The date of the CAP's water right is Sept. 30, 1968, the day President Lyndon Johnson signed the law authorizing CAP construction, That date is shared by a few other Arizona users along the Colorado River. ,./"i-Second, the uCalifornia guarantee/' part of ,'the 1968 law, says that when too little water is '~available, "diversions, , . for the Central Arizona roject shall be so limited as to assure the vailability of water, . . in the state of California." i Hence, not only will the CAP be the last to get ~ater, but in years when Colorado River water is in short supply, California will get its 4.4 million acre-feet before the CAP gets any. , Arizona's congressional delegation did not like . the California guarantee, but it was the price to get California supllort for the CAP law.