Laserfiche WebLink
<br />W. <br />. . <br /> <br />Colorado <br />James S. <br />Page 20 <br /> <br />River Compact Symposium <br />Lochhead <br /> <br />river. <br /> <br />carpenter made further assurances: <br /> <br />It is evident that the States of the upper Basin may <br />safely guarantee 75,000,000 acre-feet aggregate <br />delivery at Lee Ferry during each ten-year period. <br />This would mean an average annual delivery of 7,500,000 <br />acre-feet as against 15,940,594 acre-feet present net <br />annual average flow (100\) at Lee Ferry or 18,415,842 <br />acre-feet natural average annual Blow (100\) on the <br />basis of a "reconstructed" river. <br /> <br />Arthur Powell Davis, the Commissioner of Reclamation, backed <br />up the assurances of Carpenter and other commissioners. <br />Davis had throughout the negotiations, and even before, <br />stated that there was plenty of water in the Colorado River <br />system to take care of all existing and future anticipated <br />uses. <br /> <br />Unfortunately, history has shown that these optimistic <br />assumptions were just that. Since 1922, the undepleted flow <br />of the River at Lee Ferry has averaged only 14.2 million <br />acre-feet per year. Twice in this century there have beea <br />ten year periodS in which the flow has been 11.8 maf/yr. <br />Tree ring studies have estimated the long-term average <br />supply at 13.5 maf_9r., and have put one ten-year period <br />flow at 9.7 maf/yr. <br /> <br />The table on the following page provides a <br />between what was assumed in 1922 and what we now <br />the benefit of an additional 75 years of history: <br /> <br />comparison <br />know with <br /> <br />38 <br />39 Supplemental Report. <br />Forty-Eighth Annual Report of the upper Colorado River <br />~ommission, Salt Lake City Utah, September 30, 1996. <br />Severe Sustained Drought, Managing the Colorado River in <br /> <br />Times of Water Shortage, The Powell Consortium, Issue NO.1, <br />1995. <br />