The Winslow mail., 1923-10-05
The Colorado
River Compact

The states of Arizona, California,
Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah
and Wyoming, having resolved to
enter intO compact under t:e Act
of the Congress of the United States
of America approved August 10, 1921
(42 Statutes at Large, Page I'D and
the Acts of the Legislatures of the
said states, have through their gov
ernOrs appointed as their commits
sioners:
w S. Norviel, for the state of Ari-
zona;
W. F. Mcclure, for the state of
California;
DELPHI E. Carpenter, for the state of
Colorado;
j. G. Scrugham, for the state of
Nevada;
Stephen B. Davis, Jr., for the state
of New Mexico;
R. E. Caldwell, for the state of
Utah;
Frank c. Emerson, for the state of
Wyoming;
who, after negotiations participated
in by Herbert Hoover, appointed by
the President as the representative
Of the United States of America, have
agreed upon the following articles:
Article |
The major purposes of this COM
pact are to provide for the equitable
division and apportionment of the use
of the waters of the Colorado River
system; to establish the relative i'm
portance of different beneficial uses
of water; to promote interstate
comfy; to remove causes of present
and future controversies; and to Sc
cure the experitious agricultural and
industrial development of the Colo
RADIO River Basin, the storage of it's
waters and the protection of life and
property from floods. To these ends
the Colorado River Basin is divided
into two basins, and an apportion-
ment of the use of part of the water
of the Colorado River System is
made to each of them with the pro-
vision that further equitable appor-
tionments may be made
Article III
AS used in this compact:
(a) The term Colorado River
System means that portion of the
Colorado river and it's tributaries
within the United States of America.
(b) The term Colorado River
Basin" means all of the drainage area
of the Colorado River System and all
other territory within the United
States of America to which the waters
of the Colorado River System shall
be benefcially applied
Co The term States of the Up
per Division" means the states of
Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and
Wyoming.
(d) The term States of the
Lower Division" means the States of
Arizona, California and Nevada.
(e) The term Lee Ferry" means
a point in the main stream of the
Colorado river one mile below the
mouth of the Paria river
f) The term Upper Basin
means those parts of the states of
Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico Utah
and Wyoming within and from which
waters naturally drain into the Colo
rado River System above Lee Ferry,
and also all parts of said states locat-
ed without the drainage area of the
Colorado River System which are now
or shall hereafter be beneficialIy SER
we'd by waters diverted from the Sys-
tenn above Lee Ferry.
(g) The term Lower Basin
means those parts of the states of
Arizona, California, Nevada, New
Mexico and Utah within and from
which waters naturally drain into the
Colorado River System below Lee
Ferry, and also all parts of said sta
tes located without the drainage area
Of the Colorado River System which
are now Or shall hereafter be bene-
ficially served by waters diverted
from the System below Lee Ferry.
(h) The term domestic use" shall
include the use of water for house
hold, stock, municipal, mining mill
ing, industrial and other like pur-
poses, but shall exclude the genera
tion of electric power.
Article iii
(a) There is hereby apportioned
from the Colorado River System in
perpetuity to the Upper Basin and
to the Lower Basin respectively the
exclusive beneficial consumptive use
of 100000 acre feet of water per
annum, which shall include all water
necessary for the supply of any rights
which may now exist.
(b) In addition to the apportion-
ment in paragraph (a), the Lower
Basin is hereby given the right to
increase its beneficial cOnsumptive
use OI SuCn waters Dy one million
acre feet per annum.
(c) If, as a matter of internation-
al comfy, the United States of Amer
ica shall hereafter recognize in the
United States of Mexico any right to
the use of any waters of the Colorado
River System, such water shall be
supplied first from the waters which
are surplus over and above the ag-
gregate of the quantities specified
in paragraph (a) and (b); and if such
surplus shall prove insufficient for
this purpose, then, the burden of such
deficiency shall be equally borne by
the Upper Basin and the Lower Basin
and whenever necessary the states of
the Upper Division shall deliver at
Lee Ferry water to supply one-half
of the deficiency so recognized in ad-
dition to that provided in paragraph
(O.
(d) The states of the Upper Di-
vision will not cause the flow of the
river at Lee Ferry to be depleted be-
low Of 76 000 ono ooro