WSP04404

• File Number: 8103.400
• Description: Arkansas River Basin Legislation - Compacts
• State: CO
• Basin: Arkansas
• Water Division: 2
• Date: 4/30/1949
• Author: Unknown
• Title: Arkansas River Compact - Hearings before a Subcommittee on Irrigation and Reclamation of the Committee on Public Lands - April 30 1949
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

O~1253

ARKANSAS RIVER COMPACT

'United States in its latest opinion, December 6, 1943, admonished the litigants to
.compose theIr controversy "by negotiation and agreement, pursuant to. the com-
pact clause of the Federal Constitution." Accordingly, with the consent of Oon~
,gress and partlc1pati'on by a representative of the United' States pursuant to. the
act approved Apr1l19, 1945. a compact bas been negotiated and has been ratified
by the Legislatures of Colorado. and Kansas. The proposed compact provides an
:equitable, constrUCtive, and workable solution to. the interstate controversy; it
.contains adequate protection for the interests of the United States; and it estab.
lishes appropriate machinery for future administration. Therefore the proposed
Al'kansas Riyer compact merits approval by the Congress.

SEOTION L AUTHORIZATION

The act of Congress, approved April 19, 1945 (Public Law 34, 79th Cong.,
,ell. 79,1st sess. )', giving consent to the States of Colorado and Kansas to negotiate
and enter into a compact not later than January 1, 1950, for an equitable division
and apportionment of the waters of the Arkansas River and its tributaries,
.authorized the, President of the United States to appoint a representative who
,Should participate in the compact negotiations and who should report to the Con-
gress on the proceedings and the resulting compact. Pursuant thereto the
President appointed me as the representative of the United States and directed
that my report be se~t to him through' the Director of the Bureau of the Budget
prior to its submittal to the Congress. This report on the compact and proceedings
is rendered accordingly.

SEOTION 2. ,PROOEEDINGS

Commissioners acting in behalf of the compacting' States met for the first time
on January 7,1946, in Denver, Colo., and effected the organization of the Colorado-
Kansas-Arkansas 'River Compact 'Commission with the election of myself as
chairman. Subsequent meetings were held at various times and places in Colo-
rado and Kansas. The final meeting of the commission was held in Denver, Colo.,
where, on December 14, 1948, full agreement h~ving been reached upon all pro-
visions of the proposed compact,' the compact was signed by all of the commis-
sioners and. approved by me as the representative of the United States.
A signed original .of the Arkansas Itiver compact has been filed witl) the Sec-
retary of State of the United States. 'A copy thereof is appended to this report.
The compact has been ratified by appropriate legislative procedures of the sig-
natory States, viz., senate bill No.6, Thirty-seventh General Assembly of the State
of Colorado, approved February 19, 1949; house bill No. 153, thirty-sixth bien-
nial session, Kansas LegIslature, approved March 7, 1949.

SEOTION 3. HISTORY OF THE INTERSTATE CONTROVERSY
APpl'opriatlon and diversion of water from the Arkansas River for irrigation
purposes in the plaIns area of southeastern Colorado and western Kansas dates
back to the decade of 18'1'5 to 188.5. Litigation to settle the interstate controversy
which developed' from increased use and deficient flow of water was almost
continuou~ from.190l to 1943.
In 1901 Kansas first brought suit against Colorado. The United States inter.
vened and set forth Federal claims to the waters of the Arkansas River; but
the contentions of the Federal Government were denied by the United States
Supreme Court. In deciding that suit (Kansas v. Oolorado, 206 U. S. 46) the
Supreme Court decreed in 1907 that, although certain irrigation interests in
western Kansas had been injured by diversions of water from'the Arkansas
River in Colorado, such diversions had not exceeded Colorado's equitable share
of the waters of this interstate stream, aud dismissed the case without prejudice
to Kansas to bring suit at a later date. if continued diversions in her judgment
justlfied such action.
Administrators' of certain ditches in Kansas instituted suit in 1910 in the
Federal Oourt for the District of Colorado against agencies that controlled
ditches and reservoirs hi Colorado seeking to restrain them from diverting
water in Colorado to the alleged injury of Kansas ditches. This case was com.
promised andi settled out of court in 1916, 'but a similar suit was in'stituated in
the same court in 1917 and amended in 1923 by a Kansas- ditch' company which
had not been a party to the 1916 settlement.
From 1921, to 1923 an ~tl:o,rt was made to settle the inters'tate controversy
through the, lliedium of a 'compact. Commissioners duly 'appointed by both States

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