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

page A114

A114 APPENDIX 213 Every raindrop, congealed, or fluid, which falls on a surface sloping to the Colorado River is necessarily a matter of consideration, and is affected by any use or control of the Colorado River. The Colorado River is erratic in its flow, carrying past Yuma, Arizona, as much as 240,000 second-feet in floodtime and as low as 2,600 second-feet in the driest portion of the driest year. In acre-feet, the river flows annually, amounts varying from twenty-six million down to approximately ten million. Obviously, the best conservation of the water of the river and its potential value is to be accomplished by its control in such a manner that the flow may be equalized from wet to dry years, and within each year from the wet to dry season. This control may be accomplished quite thoroughly, if not completely, by utilization of available storage on the river. The unprecedented storage necessary for this control cannot well be undertaken unitedly by all the States of the Colorado River Basin or at all, perhaps, unless there is settled in advance, upon some basic principles, and upon good irrigation and water-rights practice, the rights of the various interested States to the use of the water of the Colorado River and its tributaries. For this reason and purpose, the Colorado River Commission was formed in accordance with appropriate concurrent legislation of the States of Arizona, Colorado, California, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming, and the United States of America. THE COMMISSION The Basin States mentioned above, each appointed a representative to act on the Commission, and the United States of America, as provided by Congress, appointed a representative to sit with the Commission in its deliberations on behalf of and in the interests of the United States of America which had given its consent that a compact might be entered into between and among the Basin States. The personnel of the Commission is as follows: Hon. Herbert Hoover, Secretary of Commerce, representing the United States of America. Hon. W. S. Norviel, State Water Commissioner, representing the State of Arizona. Hon. Delph E. Carpenter, former Attorney General, and now a prominent water rights lawyer of the State of Colorado, representing the State of Colorado. Hon. W. F. McClure, State Engineer, representing the State of California. Hon. James G. Scrugham, State Engineer, representing the State of Nevada. Hon. Stephen B. Davis, Jr., Supreme Court Justice, representing the State of New Mexico.