OCR Text |
Show 147 may, under Article III (b), increase its uses by 1,000,000 acre-feet and that the Upper Basin is obliged to furnish water for this increased III(b) use, subject only to the Upper Basin's first right to 7,500,000 acre-feet of water under Article III (a). Article III(b) cannot be stretched so far. Whatever may account for its segregation as a separate provision of the Compact, there is nothing to suggest that III(b) imposes an affirmative duty on the Upper Basin. Rather, it imposes for the benefit of the Upper Basin, a ceiling on Lower Basin appropriations, albeit that the Lower Basin is privileged to have a higher ceiling than the Upper Basin. It is my conclusion that Article III(b) has the same effect as Article III (a), and this conclusion is supported by the reports of the Compact commissioners, who spoke of HI (a) and III(b) as apportioning 7,500,000 acre-feel to the Upper Basin and 8,500,000 acre-feet to the Lower Basin. (See Ariz. Exs. 46, 49, 53, 55, 57). "Beneficial consumptive use" is a term used throughout the Compact although, regrettably, it is not denned in Article II or elsewhere in the document. In the early stages of the hearing, Arizona spent a vast amount of effort in seeking to establish the term as a word of art. She now contends that it has no special meaning and never did. California argues that the term is used in the Compact as a word of art and means: "the loss of Colorado River System water in processes useful to man by evaporation, transpiration or diversion out of the drainage basin, or otherwise, whereby such water becomes unavailable for use within the natural drainage basin in the United States, or unavailable for delivery to Mexico in satisfaction of requirements imposed by the Mexican Treaty. The term includes but is not limited to incidental consumption of water such as evaporation and transpiration from water surfaces and banks |
Source |
Original Report: State of Arizona, complainant v. State of California, Palo Verde Irrigation District, Imperial 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 |