OCR Text |
Show as an express covenant and in consideration of the passage of this act, that the aggregate annual consumptive use of water of and from the Colorado River for use in the State of California, including all uses under contracts made under the provisions of this act and all water necessary for the supply of any rights which may now exist, shall not exceed 4,600,000 acre-feet. More than that and within a brief period by perfected rights, that the law cannot touch in this particular territory that is thus assured, can be obtained. Talk to me of taking water from the State of California ? Not a bit of it! Not a bit of it! All the expert testimony-and I have put in the Record that of the distinguished engineer of the State of Nevada-is that if we give to the State of Arizona the water that the State of Arizona now asks, she can not by any possible process of irrigation use that water to the full or utilize all of it. All of the testimony that has been adduced reaches that conclusion, save that, of course, of some of the gentlemen connected with the State of Arizona. But that is neither here nor there. I want Senators to understand what the amendment is. It is the most drastic amendment that was ever written into a law against the people of a State, the most drastic thing that was ever asked of them. I would stand here and never tolerate it if I did not know that 60,000 people are in jeopardy in the Imperial Valley who demand and who ask and who beg and who pray that they may have the consideration of the Congress. I say to the gentlemen from Arizona, "You say that California shall have but 4,200,000 acre-feet." We say, and the testimony of Mr. Francis Wilson is the best upon that subject, that the irreducible minimum of the State of California is 4,600,000 feet. You say to us, "You must bind your people for all time in the future never to go beyond it by this amendment." The amendment does not divide the water between Arizona and California. It fixes |
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. |