WSP07342

• File Number: 8200.300.40
• Description: Colorado River Compact
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Date: 5/19/1997
• Author: James S. Lochhead
• Title: The Perspective of the State of Colorado in 1922 - Did We get What We Bargained For?
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

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Colorado River Compact Symposium
James S. Lochhead
Page 5

might come a time
Upper State might
its sovereignty
constraint by the

when the use of all the water by the
amount to an unreasonable exercise of
and thereby become subject to
Supreme Court.

* * *

The Upper States or the States of origin have the
inherent right to the use of that portion of the water
rising and flowing within their territory, necessary
for their self-preservation and development, at least
to the extent that they shall not unreasonably injure
their neighbors below.

Herbert Hoover was the federal representative to and
chairman of the compact commission. His reaction to
Carpenter's proposal was --Does not your proposal reach to
the end that an equitable division of wate6 is for you to
perpetually take all the water you want." The Commission
rejected Carpenter's specific proposal, and the negotiation
quickly turned to how the Compact could put limits on state
development. But carpenter stuck to the idea of a perpetual
allocation.

At later Compact negotiation sessions, Carpenter stated with
regard to a proposed time limit on the Compact:

The time limit must be so broad and so long that it
will not force any unnecessary development in any
section in order to keep pace, and if that is provided,
and adequate time is given, then the Compact might run
for a certain term of years, and continue thereafter
until a call for a revision should be made by a
majority of the states, the thought being that, at the
end of the term, if things were running satisfactorily
there would be no occasion for its arbitrary expiration
. There is no impending disaster above. That
country should develop along its natural lines. It is
to the welfare of the river that it should not develop
suddenly above, and it is to the welfare of the river
that it should develop suddenly below. Now, the span
of time should be sufficient in the growth of the basin
generally, so that each individual farmer, as well as
each individual project should be protected. Thus,
each may start naturally, and in such a way that when
he does develop a new farm or a new project the country
will be ready and the 'returns from the production will
be sufficient, so that he may pay for the burden of the
5 th
7 meeting of the Compact Commission, Washington D.C.,
6anuary 30, 1922.
Id.