Laserfiche WebLink
<br />f\) <br />00' . <br />-..l <br />~ <br /> <br />Colorado River Compact. The cornerstone of water allocation in the \.~.:.(,\ <br />Colorado River Basin is the Colorado River Compact of 1922. Negotiated by <br />the seven States of the Basin (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New <br />Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming), it provides "for the equitable division and <br />. " <br />apportionment of the use of the waters of the Colorado River System <br />(art. I), which "System" is defined as "that portion of the Colorado <br />River and its tributaries within the United States . . ." (art. II (a)) . <br /> <br />The compact divides the Colorado River Basin into two parts: the <br />"Upper Basin" and "Lower Basin." These basins are separated at a point <br />on the Colorado River known as "Lee Ferry" which is a few miles dmffistream <br />from the town of Lees Ferry, Arizona, To each of these basinsl is "appor- <br />tioned from the Colorado River System. . . the exclusive beneficial con- <br />sumptive use of 7,500,000 acre-feet of water per annum. . :" (art. II1(a)). <br />In addition to this apportionment, article IIl(b) specifies that "the Lower <br />Basin is hereby given the right to increase its beneficial consumptive use <br />of such waters by one million acre-feet per annum." <br /> <br />Article III(d) requires that the "Upper Division" States (Colorado, <br />New Mexico, U.tah, and Wyoming) "not cause the flow of the river at Lee <br />Ferry to be depleted below an aggregate of 75,000,000 acre-feet for any <br />period of ten consecutive years reckoned in continuing progressive <br />series. "Furthermore, arcicle III (e) specifies that <br /> <br />[t]he States of the UPper Basin shall not withhold water, <br />and the States of the Lower Basin shall not require the <br />delivery of water, which cannot reasonably be applied to <br />domestic and agricultural uses. <br /> <br />; ~.... .~; <br />"':"';~ <br /> <br />Although the United States had not, at the time'the compact was <br />negotiated, recognized any obligation to insure. the delivery of Colorado <br />River water to Mexico, the compact made provision for dealing with such <br />a situation. Thus, article III(c) states that if there is a Federal <br />recognition in Mexico of <br /> <br />any right to the use of any waters of the Colorado River <br />System, such waters shall be supplied first from the <br />waters which are surplus over and above the aggregate of <br />the quantities specified in paragraphs (a) and (b) [the 7.5 <br />maf to each basin and the additional I maf increase in con- <br />sumption for the Lower Basin]; and if such surplus shall <br /> <br />1. The compact defines both basins so as to include not only the land area <br />of each State which is drained by the pertinent basin, but also such parts <br />of any of the seven States outside of the drainage area as are or may be <br />served by water diverted from the.system above Lee Ferry in the case of <br />the Upper Basin, or below Lee Ferry in the case of the Lower Basin. <br /> <br />':"}-:,;~ <br /> <br />xxxii <br />