Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/298/558/
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 02:09:05+00:00

Document:
1. The United States is not subject to be sued without its consent, even by a State. P. 568.
2. Arizona tendered to this Court her original bill against California and the other States of the Colorado Rive Basin, praying for a judicial apportionment among them all of the unappropriated waters of that river and that she be decreed the unclouded right to the permanent use of her share. The United States, by the Boulder Canyon Project Act, and by acts of its officers thereunder, had undertaken, in the asserted exercise of its authority to control navigation, to impound, and control the disposition of, the surplus water in the stream not already appropriated; it was not denied that the natural, dependable flow was already over-appropriated, and it did not appear that, without the storage of the impounded water, any substantial amount of water would be available for appropriation. Held that permission to file the bill must be denied upon the ground that the United States would be an indispensable party. P. 298 U. S. 570.
3. The fact that no decree rendered in its absence can bind the United States is not an inducement for this Court to decide the rights of the States before it by a decree which, because of the absence of the United States, could have no finality. P. 298 U. S. 572.
4. Permission to file an original bill will not be granted if the bill, when filed, must be dismissed because of the absence of the United States as a party. P. 298 U. S. 572.
argued and presented on the Arizona petition and the returns of the other States.
This case arises upon the petition of the State of Arizona for leave to file in this Court her bill of complaint against the several states named as defendants and upon their returns to the order of this Court directing them to show cause why the prayer of the petition should not be granted. The returns raise numerous objections to the sufficiency of the proposed bill of complaint, only two of which we find it necessary to consider. One is that the proposed bill fails to present any justiciable case or controversy within the jurisdiction of the Court. The other is that the United States, which is not named as a defendant and has not consented to be sued, is an indispensable party to any decree granting the relief prayed by the bill.
river, subject to diversion and use, be fixed by this Court, and that the petitioner's title thereto be quieted against adverse claims of the defendant states. (2) That the State of California be barred from having or claiming any right to divert and use more than an equitable share of the water flowing in the river, to be determined by the Court, and not to exceed the limitation imposed upon California's use of such water by the Boulder Canyon Project Act, 45 Stat. 1057, and the Act of the California Legislature of March 4, 1929, c. 16, Stats.Cal.1929, p. 38. (3) That it be decreed that the diversion and use by any of the defendant states of any part of the equitable share of the water decreed to Arizona pending its diversion and use by her shall not constitute a prior appropriation or confer upon the appropriating state any right in the water superior to that of Arizona. (4) That any right of the Republic of Mexico to an equitable share in any increased flow of water in the Colorado river made available by works being constructed by or for California shall be supplied from California's equitable share of the water, and that neither petitioner nor the defendant states other than California shall be required to contribute to it from their equitable shares as adjudicated by the Court.
The proposed bill thus, in substance, seeks a judicial apportionment among the states in the Colorado River Basin of the unappropriated water of the river, with the limitation that the share of California shall not exceed the amount to which she is limited by the Boulder Canyon Project Act and by her statute, and with the proviso that any increase in the flow of water to which the republic of Mexico may be entitled shall be supplied from the amount apportioned to California. Our consideration of the case is restricted to an examination of the facts alleged in the proposed bill of complaint and of those of which we may take judicial notice.
The Colorado River, a navigable stream, see Arizona v. California, 283 U. S. 423, having a total length of 1,293 miles, rises in Colorado and flows through that state 245 miles, then through Utah 285 miles, then through Arizona 292 miles, then on the boundary between Arizona and Nevada 145 miles, then on the boundary between Arizona and California 235 miles, then on the boundary between Arizona and Mexico 16 miles, and then through the republic of Mexico to the Gulf of California 75 miles. For 688 miles, more than half its length, the river flows in Arizona or upon her boundary.
Two dams have been built across the Colorado river by the Secretary of the Interior, acting under authority of acts of Congress. One, Boulder Dam, 378 miles below the intersection of the river with the boundary between Arizona and Utah, creates Boulder Reservoir, extending along the bed of the river 115 miles above the dam. The other, Laguna Dam, is located 18 miles above the point where the Colorado river becomes the boundary between Arizona and Mexico. Two other dams are projected and in course of construction under contracts entered into by the Secretary of the Interior, pursuant to acts of Congress. Boulder Canyon Project Act § I; United States Session Laws 1935, 49 Stat. p. 1039. See United States v. Arizona, 295 U. S. 174. Both are in that part of the river which flows between Arizona and California. One, Parker Dam, is approximately 150 miles south of Boulder Dam, and the other, Imperial Dam, is 4 1/2 miles above Laguna Dam.
cannot be irrigated from any other source. There are 5,000,000 additional acres of land in Arizona "potentially susceptible of economic irrigation" from the waters of the river. There are pending projects to irrigate more than 1,000,000 acres of this unirrigated but irrigable land, of which more than 100,000 acres are owned by the State of Arizona. The amount of water required for such irrigation is in excess of 4,000,000 acre-feet annually.
By the Colorado River Compact, see Arizona v. California, supra, entered into by the defendant states and approved by Congress, but to which Arizona is not a party, the undepleted flow of water of the Colorado river is apportioned between the upper basin and the lower basin of the river valley; the point of division being Lees Ferry, 23 miles below the southern boundary of Utah. To each basin there is apportioned 7,500,000 acre-feet per annum, and the lower basin has the additional right to increase its "beneficial consumptive use" of the water by 1,000,000 feet per annum.
"unless water for the irrigation of said land can be appropriated and unclouded, undisputed, and incontestable rights to the permanent use thereof acquired at or prior to the time of constructing such works."
a beneficial use constitute an appropriation, and entitle the appropriator to a continuing right to use the water, to the extent of the appropriation, but not beyond that reasonably required and actually used. The appropriator first in time is prior in right over others upon the same stream, and the right, when perfected by use, is deemed effective from the time the purpose to make the appropriation is definitely formed and actual work upon the project is begun, or from the time statutory requirements of notice of the proposed appropriation are complied with, provided the work is carried to completion and the water is applied to a beneficial use with reasonable diligence. See Arizona v. California, supra; Kansas v. Colorado, 206 U. S. 46; Wyoming v. Colorado, 259 U. S. 419.
Arizona, by her proposed bill of complaint, asserts no right arising from her own appropriation of the waters of the Colorado River. No infringement of her rights acquired by appropriation is alleged, and no relief for their protection is prayed. While it is alleged that definite plans have been made for the irrigation of 1,000,000 acres of unirrigated land in Arizona, and a right to share in the water for that purpose is asserted, it does not appear that any initial step toward appropriation of water for such a project has been taken.
The right of the California corporations to withdraw from the river a total of 5,362,000 acre-feet annually under the contracts with the Secretary of the Interior is challenged only insofar as the prayer for relief asks that the unappropriated water of the river be equitably apportioned among Arizona and the defendant states, and that any increased amount to which the republic of Mexico may be entitled be directed to be supplied from the amount to which California may otherwise be found to be equitably entitled.
Arizona does not assert any right to the benefit of the undertaking of California, in conformity to the Boulder Canyon Project Act, to restrict its own use of the water. The brief for Arizona disclaims the assertion of any rights under "the Boulder Canyon Project Act, the Colorado River Compact, or the Boulder Project itself."
The allegations and prayer of the bill are of significance only if Arizona, in advance of any act of appropriation, and independently of any rights which she may have acquired under the Boulder Canyon Project Act, may demand a judicial decree exempting the available water of the river, or some of it, from appropriation by other states until the indefinite time in the future when she or her inhabitants may see fit to appropriate it. A justiciable controversy is presented only if Arizona, as a sovereign state, or her citizens, whom she represents, have present rights in the unappropriated water of the river, or if the privilege to appropriate the water is capable of division and when partitioned may be judicially protected from appropriations by others pending its exercise.
is that California, save as she may have renounced the privilege, is free, subject to prior appropriations, to appropriate to her own use the entire flow of the water in the river, to the exclusion of any future beneficial enjoyment of it by Arizona.
Arizona insists that this Court, in adjudicating the rights of states in the water of interstate streams, has declared that it will not hold itself restricted to rigid application of local rules of law governing private rights; that, independently of those rules, it may have recourse to applicable principles of international law and equity tending to secure to sovereign states equality of right in such water. Kansas v. Colorado, 185 U. S. 125, 185 U. S. 146; Missouri v. Illinois, 200 U. S. 496, 200 U. S. 520; Kansas v. Colorado, 206 U. S. 46, 206 U. S. 97, et seq; Wyoming v. Colorado, supra, 259 U. S. 465, 259 U. S. 470; Connecticut v. Massachusetts, 282 U. S. 660, 282 U. S. 670; New Jersey v. New York, 283 U. S. 336, 283 U. S. 342-343. It points out that departure from the local formula may be compelled where the contending states apply, locally, different and irreconcilable doctrines, Kansas v. Colorado, supra, and that the common law of private riparian rights has been modified, even in suits between states adhering to it, by the application of principles of equitable apportionment. Missouri v. Illinois, supra, 200 U. S. 526; Connecticut v. Massachusetts, supra, 282 U. S. 671; New Jersey v. New York, supra, 283 U. S. 343. But we have no occasion to consider the arguments urged upon us in support of the adoption, in this case, of a different rule from that of appropriation, as applied locally, for we are of the opinion that, in the circumstances disclosed by the bill of complaint, there can be no adjudication of rights in the unappropriated water of the Colorado river without the presence, as a party, of the United States, which, without its consent, is not subject to suit even by a state. Kansas v. United States, 204 U. S. 331, 204 U. S. 343.
"for the purpose of controlling the floods, improving navigation, and regulating the flow of the Colorado River, providing for storage and for the delivery of the stored waters thereof for reclamation of public lands and other beneficial uses exclusively within the United States, and for the generation of electrical energy as a means of making the project herein authorized a self-supporting and financially solvent undertaking."
To carry out the purpose of the act, § 1 directs the creation of a storage reservoir of a capacity of not less than 20,000,000 acre-feet. According to the allegations of the proposed bill, the actual capacity of the completed reservoir is 30,500,000 acre-feet, which is nearly twice the undepleted annual flow of the river, and four and one-half times the amount of water remaining unappropriated after deducting that which California is to receive under the contracts with the Secretary of the Interior.
"first, for river regulation, improvement of navigation, and flood control; second, for irrigation and domestic uses and satisfaction of present perfected rights; . . . and third, for power."
"contracts for the use of water . . . shall be made with responsible applicants therefor who will pay the price fixed by the said Secretary with a view to meeting the revenue requirements herein provided for."
Acting under this authority, the Secretary of the Interior has substantially completed the project and has entered into contracts, so the bill of complaint alleges, for the delivery of 5,362,000 acre-feet of stored water to California corporations, and for the financing and construction of Parker and Imperial Dams and the All American Canal to facilitate the use of this water in California.
Without more detailed statement of the facts disclosed, it is evident that the United States, by congressional legislation and by acts of its officers which that legislation authorizes, has undertaken in the asserted exercise of its authority to control navigation, to impound and control the disposition of the surplus water in the river not already appropriated. The defendant states contend, and Arizona does not deny, that the natural dependable flow of the river is already over-appropriated, and it does not appear that, without the storage of the impounded water, any substantial amount of water would be available for appropriation.
appropriation. The relief asked, and that which, upon the facts alleged, would alone be of benefit to Arizona, is a decree adjudicating to petitioners the "unclouded . . . rights to the permanent use of" the water. Such a decree could not be framed without the adjudication of the superior rights asserted by the United States. The "equitable share" of Arizona in the unappropriated water impounded above Boulder Dam could not be determined without ascertaining the rights of the United States to dispose of that water in aid and support of its project to control navigation, and without challenging the dispositions already agreed to by the Secretary's contracts with the California corporations, and the provision as well of § 5 of the Boulder Canyon Project Act that no person shall be entitled to the stored water except by contract with the Secretary.
It is argued that the constitutional power of the United States to exert any control over the water stored at Boulder Dam is subject to the rights of Arizona to an equitable share in the unappropriated water "until such a time as commerce is actually moving on the river," and that, in any case, Congress has subordinated that power to Arizona's rights by the provisions of § 4(a) of the Boulder Canyon Project Act which authorizes Arizona, California, and Nevada to enter into an agreement as to their relative rights in the water or the river. But these and similar contentions, so far as they were not answered adversely to Arizona in Arizona v. California, supra, 283 U. S. 456, cannot be judicially determined in a proceeding to which the United States is not a party and in which it cannot be heard.
rendered in its absence can bind or affect the United States, that fact is not an inducement for this Court to decide the rights of the states which are before it by a decree which, because of the absence of the United States, could have no finality. California v. Southern Pacific Co., 157 U. S. 229, 157 U. S. 251, 157 U. S. 257; Minnesota v. Northern Securities Co., 184 U. S. 199, 184 U. S. 235, 184 U. S. 245-247; International Postal Supply Co. v. Bruce, 194 U. S. 601, 194 U. S. 606; Texas v. Interstate Commerce Comm'n, 258 U. S. 158, 258 U. S. 163. A bill of complaint will not be entertained which, if filed, could only be dismissed because of the absence of the United States as a party. Louisiana v. McAdoo, 234 U. S. 627.
The petition to file the proposed bill of complaint is denied. We leave undecided the question whether an equitable division of the unappropriated water of the river can be decreed in a suit in which the United States and the interested states are parties. Arizona will be free to assert such rights as she may have acquired, whether under the Boulder Canyon Project Act and California's undertaking to restrict her own use of the water or otherwise, and to challenge, in any appropriate judicial proceeding, any act of the Secretary of the Interior or others, either states or individuals, injurious to it and in excess of their lawful authority.
At Lees Ferry, twenty-three miles below the point where the river enters Arizona from Utah, the average undepleted annual flow is 16,660,000 acre-feet. At Boulder Dam, it is 17,720,000 acre-feet. At the Imperial Dam, it is 16,840,000. Nondiversion river losses and evaporation below Lees Ferry aggregate 1,400,000 acre-feet annually, and are about offset by the river's gains between Lees Ferry and Boulder Dam.
Of this amount, approximately 2,500,000 acre-feet are diverted annually above Lees Ferry, and are used and consumed in Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming, and 3,600,000 acre-feet are diverted annually below Lees Ferry from the river and its tributaries other than the Gila. The average annual diversions taking place below the southern boundary of Utah, stated in acre-feet, are as follows: Arizona, 585,000; California, 2,475,000; Nevada, 40,000; Mexican Republic, 500,000.
At Lees Ferry, 10,500,000 acre-feet; at Boulder Dam, 11,100,000 acre-feet; at Imperial Dam, 9,720,000 acre-feet. Allowing for estimated increase in use of the water now appropriated for irrigation of land above Boulder Dam and for diversions by projects now under construction in Colorado, it is estimated that the flow of the Colorado river into and out of the Boulder Dam will, in 1938, average 15,069,000 acre-feet per year.
The acreage under irrigation by water diverted from the Colorado river and its tributaries, other than the Gila, is distributed among the Colorado River Basin states as follows: Arizona, 72,120; California, 464,653; Colorado, 856,413; New Mexico, 45,937; Nevada, 12,308; Utah, 347,452; Wyoming, 228,699. Approximately 525,000 acres of land in the Gila River Basin are irrigated from the waters of that river and its tributaries, of which 520,000 acres are located in Arizona.
The surplus water of the river in the lower basin, unapportioned by the compact, is 2,171,000 acre-feet, one-half of which, or 1,085,500 acre-feet, California is entitled, under the Boulder Canyon Project Act, and her own statute, to add to the 4,400,000 acre-feet which they specifically allot to her, making a total allotment of 5,485,500 acre-feet annually.
By way of specification of this general statement, it is alleged that such corporations have made application to the division of water resources, department of public works of the State of California, for permits to divert and appropriate annually from the river quantities of water aggregating more than 12,670,000 acre-feet, and that the State of California will grant the permits so applied for, upon completion by such corporations of the necessary diversion works. In addition, it is alleged that the Secretary of the Interior, pursuant to § 1 of the Boulder Canyon Project Act, has entered into a contract with the Imperial Irrigation District, a California corporation, in connection with the building of the Imperial Dam for the construction of a main canal known as the "All American Canal," to connect the dam with the Imperial and Coachella Valleys, which provides for the delivery to the United States at the Imperial Dam of 1,460,000 acre-feet per year, to be used for irrigation and power. Approximately 200,000 acre-feet of this amount will be used for the irrigation of lands in the United States Yuma Reclamation Project in Arizona. The remainder will be used for irrigation of the Yuma Indian Reservation in California and for power. An additional 400,000 acre-feet will be used for desilting the canal. The water to be used for desilting and power will be returned to the river at a point where it cannot be recaptured for further use in the United States.

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