OCR Text |
Show 311 that Congress, without saying so expressly, and without ever considering the matter,3 intended to nullify, in times of shortage, the very purpose of the reservation. The cases cited at pp. 258-259, supra, demonstrate that reservation of water was made by the United States to assure an adequate supply of water for the future needs of the federal establishments, in order that they could fulfill their purposes. It would frustrate this intent to deny the United States the use of this reserved water in times of shortage. I do not believe that Congress, when directing that the dam be operated in "satisfaction of present perfected rights", intended these consequences, and accordingly, I conclude that water rights reserved before June 25, 1929, fojrjederal^establishments are "perfected rights" within the meaning of Section 6. In the unlikely event that water is so short that a state's apportionment is insufficient to satisfy present perfected must deliver water to satisfy such rights from the other states' apportionments. Each of the other two states contributes water from its apportionment for this purpose in the proportion that its apportionment of the first 7.5 million acre-feet of mainstream consumption bears to the aggregate apportionment to the two states. In the example stated, in which annual consumptive use was limited to 6 million acre-feet, Califor- 4.4 nia's apportionment would be 7TX 6 million acre-feet or 3,520,000 acre-feet of consumptive use. If, hypothetically, California has present perfected rights of 3,600,000 acre-feet, she would be entitled under Section 6 of the Project Act to consumption of 3,600,000 acre-feet, and thus, ex- 8The legislative history reveals nothing concerning the status of federal water rights as perfected rights. |
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 |