OCR Text |
Show thereby acquire rights against all other states, especially against those states which were not ready now to appropriate and use the water. These other states knew that if this water were taken by California, then in the future, when these states could use the water, the right thereto would be lost by the prior appropriation made by the California people. This was the reason that the northern states were agitating for a Seven States Compact which would allocate a certain amount of the river waters in perpetuity to each of the seven states. If such allocation were made by compact, then the doctrine of prior appropriation as between states would be set aside and each would know its allocation and could rely and count upon the amount allocated. And while the water might continue to flow into the Lower Basin, and be taken and used by the Lower Basin States, yet at any time the other states to which the allocation had been made were in need of water, they would have the right to take it. When the Seven States Conference met at Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1922, they determined that instead of allocating a certain amount of water to each state, they would make the allocations between the two basins, namely, the Upper and Lower Basins. The Upper Basin at that time was consumptively using about 2,000,000 acre feet. Measurements of the water in the river over a long period of years showed that there was in excess of 15,000,000 acre feet passing Lee's Ferry annually, so the Compact fixed Lee's Ferry as a point where the waters of the river should be divided between the two basins. By Paragraph A of Article III of the compact, they allocated to each of the basins 7,500,000 consumptive acre feet and provided that this should take care of all future and present rights in both basins. The Upper Basins agreed that there |
Source |
Original book: [State of Arizona, complainant v. State of California, Palo Verde Irrigation District, Coachella Valley County Water District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, City of Los Angeles, California, City of San Diego, California, and County of San Diego, California, defendants, United States of America, State of Nevada, State of New Mexico, State of Utah, interveners] : California exhibits. |