WSP07317

• File Number: 8210.140.20
• Description: Colorado River Basin Organizations and Entities - Colorado River Basin States Forum - California
• State: CA
• Basin: Western Slope
• Date: 1/1/1971
• Author: Myron B Holburt
• Title: Annual Report for the Calendar Year 1970
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Annual Report

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Unil.d SIIII.. v. 'mp'lrilll,,,iglltilln Oi,'rict

This lawsuit, resulting from a 1964 opin-
ion by Department of the Interior Solicitor
Frank J. Barry that the 160-acre water limita-
tion be imposed on Imperial Valley land
owners, finally came to trial in December,
1970 after many postponements. The basis
on which the land owners opposed the ruling
was contained in the Colorado River Board's
1968 Annual Report,
On January 5, 1971, the U.S. District Court
for the Southern District of California held
that defendant Imperial Irrigation District is
not bound by the land limitation provisions
of the reclamation law in the delivery of Col-
orado River water to any of the privately
owned land within the boundaries of Impe-
rial Irrigation District, and that such land
limitation provisions have no application to
privately owned lands lying within that dis-
trict.

Unil.d SIIII.. v, Di"ri~' Court
in IInd lor Ih. CDunly 01 EllgI.
IInd Ih. SIIII. 01 C%rlldD

Litigation pending before the Supreme
Court of the United States in the case of
United States v, The District Court in and
for the County of Eagle and the State ofColo-
rado is significant to the Board because the
outcome could affect the administration and
adjudication of water rights throughout the
western United States,
This case arose in a water adjudication suit
in Colorado in which the District Court is-
sued a notice to all owners and claimants of
water rights, including the United States, to
file a statement of claim and to appear in
regard to all water rights owned or claimed
by them in the Eagle River system in Colo-
rado, a tributary of the Colorado River. The
United States moved that it be dismissed as
a party because (1) the Federal statute con-
senting that the United States be joined as a
defendant in the adjudication of rights to the
use of water "of a river system" under state
law does not include the reserved water
rights of the United States, and (2) that if

such consent included reserved water rights,
it would not operate against the United
States because the Eagle River sysrem, tribu-
tary to the Colorado River, is not within the
term "a river system," The District Court
denied the United States' motion. This deni-
al was affirmed by the Supreme Court of Col-
orado, The United States then petitioned the
U.S. Supreme Court to review the matter.
On June 12, 1970, Attorney General Lynch
filed a brief for the State of California as
amicus curiae in support of the positions of
the District Court and of the State of Colo-
rado. The case was set for hearing in early
1971.

Lake Powell and Rainbow Bridge National
Monument Litigation

On November 4, 1970, Friends of the
Earth, Wasatch Mountain Club, Inc., and
Kenneth L. Sleight (a Colorado River guide)
filed suit in the United States District Court,
District of Columbia, which, if successful,
would limit the water level of Lake Powell to
elevation 3,600 feet above sea level, thereby
limiting water storage to less than half of the
lake's 25 million acre-feet of usable capacity.
The compla:nt against the Commissioner of
Reclamation and the Secretary of the Inte-
rior seeks to compel the defendants to pre-
vent the waters of Lake Powell from invad-
ing the boundaries of Rainbow Bridge
National Monument and to take adequate
protective measures to preclude impairment
of the monument pursuant to sections 1 and
3 of the Colorado River Storage Project Act,
P,L. 84-485. An amended complaint filed on
December 10, 1970, added some jurisdiction-
al grounds and made some other minor
changes.
By the end of 1970, the United States was
considering filing a motion for dismissal of
the suit and the Upper Basin states were con-
sidering petitioning for intervention in the
suit.

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