73-12a-2 - Text of compact.
73-12a-2. Text of compact.
The text of said compact is as follows:
The states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming,having resolved to enter into a compact under the Act of the Congress of the United States ofAmerica approved August 19, 1921 (42 Statutes at Large, page 171) and the acts of legislaturesof the said states, have through their governors appointed as their commissioners:
W. S. Norviel for the state of Arizona,
W. F. McClure for the state of California,
Delph 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 participatedin by Herbert Hoover, appointed by the President as the representative of the United States ofAmerica, have agreed upon the following articles:
The major purposes of this compact are to provide for the equitable division andapportionment of the use of the waters of the Colorado River System; to establish the relativeimportance of different beneficial uses of water; to promote interstate comity; to remove causesof present and future controversies; and to secure the expeditious agricultural and industrialdevelopment of the Colorado River Basin, the storage of its waters and the protection of life andproperty from floods. To these ends the Colorado River Basin is divided into two basins, and anapportionment of the use of part of the water of the Colorado River System is made to each ofthem with the provision that further equitable apportionment may be made.
As used in this compact:
(a) The term "Colorado River System" means that portion of the Colorado River and itstributaries within the United States of America.
(b) The term "Colorado River Basin" means all of the drainage area of the ColoradoRiver System and all other territory within the United States of America to which the waters ofthe Colorado River System shall be beneficially applied.
(c) The term "States of the Upper 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 andNevada.
(e) The term "Lee Ferry" means a point in the main stream of Colorado River one milebelow the mouth of the Paria River.
(f) The term "Upper Basin" means those parts of the states of Arizona, Colorado, NewMexico, Utah and Wyoming within and from which waters naturally drain into the ColoradoRiver System above Lee Ferry, and also all parts of said states located without the drainage areaof the Colorado River System which are now or shall hereafter be beneficially served by watersdiverted from the system 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 states located without the drainage areaof the Colorado River System which are now or shall hereafter be beneficially served by watersdiverted from the system below Lee Ferry.
(h) The term "domestic use" shall include the use of water for household, stock,municipal, mining, milling, industrial and other like purposes, but shall exclude the generation ofelectrical power.
(a) There is hereby apportioned from the Colorado River System in perpetuity to theUpper Basin and to the Lower Basin, respectively, the exclusive beneficial consumptive use of7,500,000 acre-feet of water per annum, which shall include all water necessary for the supply ofany right which may now exist.
(b) In addition to the apportionment in paragraph (a), the Lower Basin is hereby giventhe right to increase its beneficial consumptive use of such waters by one million acre feet perannum.
(c) If, as a matter of international comity, the United States of America shall hereafterrecognize in the United States of Mexico any right to the use of any water of the Colorado RiverSystem, such waters shall be supplied first from the waters which are surplus over and above theaggregate of the quantities specified in paragraphs (a) and (b); and if such surplus shall proveinsufficient for this purpose, then, the burden of such deficiency shall be equally borne by theUpper Basin and the Lower Basin, and whenever necessary the states of the Upper Division shalldeliver at Lee Ferry water to supply one-half of the deficiency so recognized in addition to thatprovided in paragraph (d).
(d) The states of the Upper Division will not cause the flow of the river at Lee Ferry to bedepleted below an aggregate of 75,000,000 acre-feet for any period of ten consecutive yearsreckoned in continuing progressive series beginning with the first day of October next succeedingthe ratification of this compact.
(e) The states of the Upper Division shall not withhold water, and the states of the LowerDivision shall not require the delivery of water, which cannot reasonably be applied to domesticand agricultural uses.
(f) Further equitable apportionment of the beneficial uses of the waters of the ColoradoRiver System unapportioned by paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) may be made in the manner providedin paragraph (g) at any time after October first, 1963, if and when either basin shall have reachedits total beneficial consumptive use as set out in paragraphs (a) and (b).
(g) In the event of a desire for a further apportionment as provided in paragraph (f) anytwo signatory states, acting through their governors, may give joint notice of such desire to thegovernors of the other signatory states and to the President of the United States of America, andit shall be the duty of the governors of the signatory states and of the President of the UnitedStates of America forthwith to appoint representatives, whose duty it shall be to divide andapportion equitably between the Upper Basin and Lower Basin the beneficial use of theunapportioned water of the Colorado River System as mentioned in paragraph (f), subject to thelegislative ratification of the signatory states and the Congress of the United States of America.
(a) Inasmuch as the Colorado River has ceased to be navigable for commerce and thereservation of its waters for navigation would seriously limit the development of its basin, the useof its waters for purposes of navigation shall be subservient to the uses of such waters for
domestic, agricultural and power purposes. If the Congress shall not consent to this paragraph,the other provisions of this compact shall nevertheless remain binding.
(b) Subject to the provisions of this compact, water of the Colorado River System may beimpounded and used for the generation of electrical power, but such impounding and use shall besubservient to the use and consumption of such water for agricultural and domestic purposes andshall not interfere with or prevent use for such dominant purposes.
(c) The provisions of this article shall not apply to or interfere with the regulation andcontrol by any state within its boundaries of the appropriation, use and distribution of water.
The chief official of each signatory state charged with the administration of water rights,together with the director of the United States Reclamation Service and the director of the UnitedStates Geological Survey shall co-operate, ex officio:
(a) To promote the systematic determination and co-ordination of the facts as to flow,appropriation, consumption and use of water in the Colorado River Basin, and the interchange ofavailable information in such matters.
(b) To secure the ascertainment and publication of the annual flow of the Colorado Riverat Lee Ferry.
(c) To perform such other duties as may be assigned by mutual consent of the signatoriesfrom time to time.
Should any claim or controversy arise between any two or more of the signatory states:(a) with respect to the waters of the Colorado River System not covered by the terms of thiscompact; (b) over the meaning or performance of any of the terms of this compact; (c) as to theallocation of the burdens incident to the performance of any article of this compact or thedelivery of waters as herein provided; (d) as to the construction or operation of works within theColorado River Basin to be situated in two or more states, or to be constructed in one state for thebenefit of another state; or (e) as to the diversion of water in one state for the benefit of anotherstate; the governors of the states affected, upon the request of one of them, shall forthwithappoint commissioners with power to consider and adjust such claim or controversy, subject toratification by the legislatures of the states so affected.
Nothing herein contained shall prevent the adjustment of any such claim or controversyby any present method or by direct future legislative action of the interested states.
Nothing in this compact shall be construed as affecting the obligations of the UnitedStates of America to Indian tribes.
Present perfected rights to the beneficial use of waters of the Colorado River System areunimpaired by this compact. Whenever storage capacity of 5,000,000 acre-feet shall have beenprovided on the main Colorado River within or for the benefit of the Lower Basin, then claims ofsuch rights, if any, by appropriators or users of water in the Lower Basin against appropriators orusers of water in the Upper Basin shall attach to and be satisfied from water that may be storednot in conflict with Article III.
All other rights to beneficial use of waters of the Colorado River System shall be satisfiedsolely from the water apportioned to that basin in which they are situate.
Nothing in this compact shall be construed to limit or prevent any state from instituting ormaintaining any action or proceeding, legal or equitable, for the protection of any right under thiscompact or the enforcement of any of its provisions.
This compact may be terminated at any time by the unanimous agreement of the signatorystates. In the event of such termination all rights established under it shall continue unimpaired.
This compact shall become binding and obligatory when it shall have been approved bythe legislatures of each of the signatory states and by the Congress of the United States. Notice ofapproval by the legislatures shall be given by the governor of each signatory state to thegovernors of the other signatory states and to the President of the United States, and the Presidentof the United States is requested to give notice to the governors of the signatory states ofapproval by the Congress of the United States.
In Witness Whereof, the commissioners have signed this compact in a single original,which shall be deposited in the archives of the Department of State of the United States ofAmerica and of which a duly certified copy shall be forwarded to the governor of each of thesignatory states.
Done at the city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, this twenty-fourth day of November, A.D. onethousand nine hundred and twenty-two.
(s) W. S. Norviel.
(s) W. F. McClure.
(s) Delph E. Carpenter.
(s) J. G. Scrugham.
(s) Stephen B. Davis, Jr.
(s) R. E. Caldwell.
(s) Frank C. Emerson.
Approved:
Herbert Hoover.
No Change Since 1953