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 236 |
OCR Text |
Show 236 that such an interstate compact would give California superior priorities to water because of the earlier dates of her uses. A compact is ordinarily thought of as an agreement between sovereigns with the rights of each standing on equal footing. The sensible interpretation of the proposed compact is that California's more advanced development was taken into account in allocating to her a larger share of water than to her sister states, and that once the ratio of 4.4 to 2.8 to .3 was established, it would be applied to all of the water consumed, regardless of dates of appropriation. Since Congress intended the second paragraph of Section 4(a) to be correlative to the first paragraph, the latter must be interpreted in the same manner as the former, to provide for a pro rata apportionment in periods of shortage. In short, Congress contemplated inequality in the quantities allocated to each of the states, but parity in their rank. Interstate priorities were rejected. The principle of sovereign parity was established. As pointed out above, it is patent that the Secretary was profoundly influenced in his water delivery contracts by the apportionment suggested in Section 4(a). Therefore, it must be concluded that these contracts embody the pro rata system of apportionment that is incorporated in Section 4(a). None of the contracts suggests that a system other- than pro rata distribution is to be applied. Although the Secretary's contracts with California users specify a system of priorities among them, they do not mention interstate priorities, nor do any of the Secretary's other water delivery contracts. Indeed, in order to apply an interstate priority system it would be necessary for the Secretary to establish the priority date for each use diverting water from the mainstream as against all of the other uses diverting such water. So far as appears, the |
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 |
248-UUM-COvAZ-SMRP_page 236.jpg |
Setname |
wwdl_azvca |
ID |
1119988 |
Reference URL |
https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s61835d5/1119988 |