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Show 20 WAR FOR THE COLORADO RIVER Basin - Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona (whose major interest was in the Lower Basin) - able to reach an agreement satisfactory to themselves. The Lower Basin states have never been able to agree. Their fight stemmed primarily from the fact that California and Arizona interpreted differently the series of documents and statutes applicable to the matter. Meanwhile, California had signed contracts with the Federal Government calling for the delivery to it in the Lower Basin, of 5,362,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water annually*. This water was allocated by the contracts among Southern California projects as follows: For lands, principally agricultural, in the Imperial and Coachella Valleys, in the Palo Verde District and for the Yuma Project in California, a total of 4,150,000 acre-feet. For the Metropolitan Water District, a group of Southern California cities, 1,212,000 acre-feet. Three main issues split Arizona and California. They were not difficult to explain or to understand, but they appeared to be insoluble. Yet, all future development depended upon their solution. The three issues were: One: Under Article Three, Paragraph a, of the Colorado River Compact, the Lower Basin states were apportioned in perpetuity "the exclusive beneficial con- sumptive use" of 7,500,000 acre-feet of river water a year. The Upper Basin states received a similar amount. This was known as "Three-a Water." * An acre-foot is the amount of water necessary to cover an acre of land with water one foot deep. |