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o c.: ~ All of the eight states in the Arkansas-White-Red Basins have laws W providing for drainage works in the protection of lands from seepage, ,~ and several have laws governing the appropriation and use of 1I.Ilderground I-" we. ters, both vagrant percolating waters, and such as follow channels which are none too well-defined. Such last"1llentioned laws are difficult of satisfactory administration, due primarily to the problem of defining the nature, extent, and flow of such underground waters, However, the same principles of compact and of equitable division by suit 1I.Ilder the original jurisdiction of the United States Supreme Court would apply to so-called ground wters if and when the nature, extent, and flow thereof, may be adequately defined. Interstate Rights. The jurisdictional question or conflict of in- terest and of laws among the several states f1IA'Y be reconciled (a) by compacts among or between the several states, the right to enter into which, is inherent in the states, and subject only to the Federal consti- tutional requirement that such compacts have consent of the Federal Gov- ernment by Act of Congress; or, (b) by suit invoking the original juris- diction of the United States Supreme Court. In such a suit, it has been held that interests of the Federal Government under the Federal reclama- tion laws deraign through the wter appropriation laws of the affected state. Nebraska v. Wyoming 295 U. S. 40. Exercise of one or the other of these alternatives would appear to be expedient as a preliminary to any development, interstate or otherwise, on an interstate stream. The rule is established in the case of Wyoming v. Colorado 309 U. S, 572 that the jurisdiction in the United States Supreme Court will not extend be;yond an equitable division between or among the affected states, parties to the suit, leaving to such states for dete1'lll1nation the lI8IU1er in which, and extent to which, rights my accrue in the vaters so equitably divided. Quality of vater paSSing state lines is within the scope of such an equitable distribution of the wters of interstate streams. Either by compact or by su1t under the original jur1Bdiction of the United States Supreme Court, the respective states on an interstate stream f1IA'Y deter- mine the extent to which one state f1IA'Y affect the quality of vater pass- ing to another state. Interstate Compacts, One interstate compact is in effect within the area of the three basins, and two are in the process of preparation. Waters of the Arkansas River originating upstream from the Colorado- Kansas state line were allocated between Colorado and Kansas by a com- pact signed by the President May 31, 19~9. That compact prOVides for the equitable division of such vaters, and deals primarily v1th the oper- ation of the John Martin Reservoir as it affects the apportionment. On the CAnAdian River a compact was signed by the CllIIIIlI1ss1oners on 6 De- cember 1950 and will be introduced to the State legislators for approval in 1951, The compact will go into effect when the States bave ratified it and a bill approving the cOlllpaCt has passed Congress and been signed by the President. 4-4 coc: sms , 1 Jan" 51