Title |
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, defendants : the United States of America and State of Nevada, interveners : State of Utah and State of New Mexico, impleaded defendants : report / Simon H. Rifkind, special master |
Creator |
United States. Supreme Court |
Subject |
Water rights; Water consumption; Rivers |
OCR Text |
Show The record of this action is another chapter in the long history of controversy relating to the Colorado River. Suit was initiated by Arizona on August 13, 1952, by filing a motion for leave to file a bill of complaint against the State of California and seven public agencies of the State.1 On January 19, 1953, the motion, unopposed, was granted. |
Publisher |
[Washington, D.C. : U.S. Supreme Court, 1960] |
Contributors |
Rifkind, Simon H. |
Date |
1960-12-05 |
Type |
Text |
Format |
application/pdf |
Digitization Specifications |
Image files generated by Photoshop CS from PDF files |
Language |
eng |
Rights Management |
Digital Image Copyright 2004, University of Utah. All Rights Reserved. |
Holding Institution |
UNLV Libraries, Special Collection, 4505 Maryland Pkwy., Las Vegas, Nevada 89154 |
Source Physical Dimensions |
ix, 433 p. ; 27 cm |
Call Number |
KFA2847.5.C6 A337 1960 |
ARK |
ark:/87278/s61835d5 |
Setname |
wwdl_azvca |
ID |
1120114 |
Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s61835d5 |
Title |
page 206 |
OCR Text |
Show 206 for use in Arizona under the Colorado River Compact and the Boulder Canyon Project Act. Article 7(f) reserves to the United States the right to contract with Nevada for the delivery to her of 4% of surplus with a consequent reduction in Arizona's share. The contract nowhere defines "surplus," and I construe the word as used in the contract to mean the same thing as it does in Section 4(a) of the Boulder Canyon Project Act. In addition, by Article 7(g), Arizona recognizes rights in New Mexico and Utah to "equitable shares" of Lower Basin water, but no amount is specified in the contract. Article 7(d) provides in part that the obligation to deliver water "shall be subject to such reduction on account of evaporation, reservoir and river losses, as may be required to render this contract in conformity with said compact and said act." As I construe this provision, questions of allocation of losses are expressly left undetermined by the contract; such determination is to be made on the basis of the Compact and Project Act, without reference to other terms of the contract. Article 7(1) contemplates the making of further contracts between the Secretary of the Interior and the users of the water allocated for use in Arizona under the master contract with the State. California contends that this provision renders the agreement illusory, that it becomes an unenforceable agreement to agree. I do not think Article 7(1) has this far-reaching effect. The Secretary's water delivery contracts should not be viewed as ordinary, private agreements for the sale of goods. Indeed, none of the contracts satisfies the elementary rules governing private agreements. For example, the Imperial Irrigation District contract does not obligate the District to take any water at all, nor is any charge made for the water delivered. What then, is the consideration for the Secretary's promise to deliver the water? Something of the same difficulty is encountered in the Nevada contract. Although that agreement specifies a |
Format |
application/pdf |
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 |
Resource Identifier |
218-UUM-COvAZ-SMRP_page 206.jpg |
Setname |
wwdl_azvca |
ID |
1119958 |
Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s61835d5/1119958 |