AZ vs. CA:24 California Exhibits, Vol. XXIV; Miscellaneous

page A69

COMPACT----STATEMENT BY SLOAN----ARIZONA A69 stream may be diverted and used without any interference from the upper basin, or without any limitation created by the compact. The effect of the compact is merely to place the two basins of use within the limitations upon a parity of right of 7,500,000 acre-feet for the upper basin and 8,500,000 acre-feet for the lower basin. Any use in either basin above these limits will acquire merely a secondary right of appropriation with respect to appropriations made within the definite allotments and title to which is deferred to a later date. It may be of interest to know why the figures of 7,500,000 acre-feet for the upper basin and 8,500,000 acre-feet for the lower basin were reached. It grew out of the proposition made by the upper basin that there should be a fifty-fifty division of rights to the use of the water of the river between the upper and lower basins which should include the flow of the Gila, and the insistence of Mr. Norviel, commissioner from Arizona, that no fifty-fifty basis of division would be equitable unless the measurement should be at Lee's Ferry. As a compromise the known requirements of the two basins were to be taken as the basis of allotment with a definite quantity added as a margin of safety. The known requirements of the upper basin being placed at 6,500,000 acre-feet, a million acre-feet of margin gave the upper basin an allotment of 7,500,000 acre-feet. The known future requirements of the lower basin from the Colorado river proper were estimated at 5,100,000 acre-feet. To this, when the total possible consumptive use of 2,350,000 acre-feet from the Gila and its tributaries are added, gives a total of 7,450,000 acre-feet. In addition to this, upon the insistence of Mr. Norviel, 1,000,000 acre-feet was added as a margin of safety, bringing the total allotment for the lower basin up to 8,500,000 acre-feet. This compromise agreement is justified when we consider that the flow of the river will not be affected by any artificial division, but will continue uninterrupted, to be used for any beneficial purpose recognized, including power, as freely as though no such apportionment had been attempted. In clause "D" of Article III of the compact there is a provision which in effect guarantees that the states of the upper division will not cause the flow of the river at Lee's Ferry to be depleted below an aggregate of 75,000,000 acre-feet for any period of ten consecutive years, reckoned in continuing progressive series. Manifestly, the only purpose of this provision is to safeguard the lower basin during periods of prolonged drought. The period of ten years is not one definite block of ten years, but is a continuing progressive series, so that it is impossible to group any definite number of wet years in any one series, and the upper basin must each year guard against the possibility of future shortage and against having to make up an unknown deficit in the future.