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<br />1 <br />, <br /> <br />21-15 <br /> <br />LAW OF THE COLORADO RIVER <br /> <br />~ 21.02(7) <br /> <br />ter." 40 The water of the River required augmentation by <br />about 2.5 m.a.f., and without it: "One of America's fastest <br />growing regions-the Colorado River Basin-is in danger of <br />economic stagnation." 41 Congress directed the Secretary of <br />the Interior to investigate augmentation of the River,42 pri- <br />marily by importation from other basins or desalinization. <br />However, at the insistence of Senator Henry Jackson and <br />other represe.ntatives of the Northwest, it suspended the ex- <br />amination of water importation possibilities until 1978 (and <br />subsequently extended the suspension to 1988).43 <br /> <br />Congress also believed that the Mexican Water Treaty had <br />conceded too much because of miscalculations by the Ameri- <br />can negotiators of the amount of water available, a federal <br />interest in exchanging Colorado River water for Rio Grande <br />water, and a desire to improve military ties with Mexico and <br />to coax it and other nations into joining and supporting the <br />United Nations through leniency in the Treaty terms.44 <br />Thus, the Act declares "that the satisfaction of the require- <br />ments of the Mexican Water Treaty from the Colorado River <br />constitutes a national obligation." 45 Congress warned that, <br />absent augmentation, "the unresolved issue. . . of whether <br />consumptive use of the water from the Gila River in Arizona <br />. . . should be counted when computing the amounts of wa- <br />ter that may have to be supplied by the Basin States to fill <br />deficiencies to Mexico" 46 might well precipitate litigation. <br />The Act declares that the seven Basin states would be re- <br />lieved of the Mexican Treaty duty as soon as an augmenta- <br />tion plan for an additional 2.5 m.a.f. had been imple- <br />mented.47 <br /> <br />40H <br />.R. Rep. No. 1312, suprn note 25, at 3688. <br />41Id. at 3669. 3687-90. <br />42 S <br />ee 43 V.S.C. ~ 1511 (19B2). <br />43Id. <br />44 <br />H.R. Rep. No. 1312. suprn note 25. at 3694-97. <br />4543 V.S.C. ~ 1512 (1982). <br />46 <br />H.R. Rep. No. 1312, supra note 25, at 3700. <br />4743 V.S.C. ~ 1512 (1982). <br />