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Show -79- PROPOSED REPUBLICAN RIVER COMPACT REPORT AM) RECCMLffiNDiATlON (By the representative of the United States, Republican River Compact Negotiations) AUTHORIZATION AMD RECOMMENDATION Pursuant to an act of Congress, approved August J4., 19^ (5& Stat. 73^); the President appointed me as representative of the United States to par- ticipate in negotiations which have resulted in the currently proposed com- pact to allocate the waters of the Republican River Basin among the States of Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska- Commissioners acting in behalf of those States agreed upon provisions in the proposed compact, at Lincoln, Nebr. , on December 31, 19i}2«< Subsequently, it -was ratified by appropriate legis- lative procedures in each of the three States. I recommend that the Con- gress of the United States act favorably upon the proposed compact, copy of which is attached. LOCALITY INVOLVED The drainage basin involved in the proposed compact comprises an area of 2]+,960 square miles in northeastern Colorado, northwestern Kansas, and southwestern Nebraska, which is naturally drained by the Republican River, and tributaries, above Junction City, Kans• The annual precipitation varies from about 18 inohes in the western part of the area to about 28 inches in the eastern part* PURPOSES The major purposes of the proposed compact, as stated therein, are to provide for the most efficient use of the waters of the Republican River Basin for multiple purposes; to provide for an equitable division of such waters; to remove all causes, present and future, which might lead to con- troversies; to promote interstate comity; to recognize that the most ef- ficient utilization of the waters within the basin is for beneficial' con- sumptive use; and to promote joint action by the States and the United States in the efficient use of water and the control of destructive floods. BASIS OF ALLOCATION Allocation, to the signatory States, of the waters of the Republican River Basin is based upon the principle of "beneficial consumptive use*" which is defined in the proposed compact nto be that use by which the v/ater supply of the basin is consumed through the activities of man, and shalll include water consumed by evaporation from any reservoir, canal, ditch., or irrigated area," The specific allocations which are made to each State are derived from the computed annual virgin water supply, which is defined in the compact "to be the water supply within the basin undepleted by "the activities of mane" |