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N - 0": N ,. c by law it was entitled annually to 3.8 maf of Colorado River water. Arizona's petition to file a complaint against California was granted by the court January 19, 1953. The Supreme Court issued an opinion June 3, 1963, that Arizona was entitled annually to 2.8 maf of mainstream Colorado River water apart from its use of Gila River water. The court affirmed that California could be required to observe its self-imposed annual use of 4,4 maf, This cleared the way for Arizona to renew its efforts to get congressional authorization for the CAP. That came in 1968, but with a price. California's congressional delegation received a guarantee that, in times of Colorado River water shortages, California would get its 4,4 maf before diversions to the CAP. While plans for building the CAP were being drawn, Arizona was told in 1969 it had to create a single agency to contract with the Secretary of the Interior for repayment of construction costs. Arizona was advised that the agency must have authority to impose a property tax should it be needed to meet the repayment obligation. The Arizona Legislature responded in 1971 with a law permitting Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties to petition for creation of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District (CA WCD). Within a few weeks this was done, and the governor appointed a IS-member board of directors to serve until a board could be elected at the next general election. Meanwhile, ground was broken in April 1970 for the Navajo Generating Station near Page, Arizona. The coal-fired power plant, owned 24.3 percent by the federal government, produces the electricity that operates the CAP. On December 15,1972, the CAWCD and the federal government signed a repayment contract.* The following May 6, CAP construction, under direction of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, began with a ground-breaking ceremony at Lake Havasu for clearing a pumping plant site, and for building a half-mile long embankment for a pump intake channel. 'The contract, which limited the CAWCD's repayment obligation to $1.2 billion, was validated by the Maricopa County Superior Court in 1983. An amended repayment contract raising the CAWCD's repayment obligation to $2.5 billion was signed December 1, 1988. The amended contract was validated by the Maricopa County Superior Court on January 7, 1991. ::~~ ~A 11