| OCR Text |
Show 294 WAR FOR THE COLORADO RIVER Whereas the Compact made no allocations to individual states, but only to Basins, the Project Act recognized Cali- fornia's right to specified quantities - and required her to limit herself thereto-i.e., 4,400,000 acre-feet of the waters apportioned by Article in (a), plus one-half the excess or sur- plus waters unapportioned by the Compact. As to the latter, whereas the Compact, in Article m (b), had recognized the Lower Basin's right to appropriate one million acre-feet of surplus, the Project Act recognized California's right to ap- propriate one-half of the excess or surplus, which might be more or less than one million acre-feet. The Project Act makes no specific reference to Article in (b). The Compact did not define "consumptive use," but the Project Act did, as "diversions less returns to the river." The Project Act, in Section 5, directed that no one should have the use of stored waters except by contract with the Secre- tary [of the Interior], but directed him to make contracts in ac- cordance with the Limitation Act, and Section 6 directed him to use the reservoir, among other purposes, for satisfaction of present perfected rights in pursuance of Article vm of the Colo- rado River Compact. Elsewhere, in Section 13, the statute subjected all rights of the United States and of those claiming under it to the Compact. Whereas Article iv of the Compact had declared the Colorado River to be non-navigable, Sections 1 and 6 of the Project Act directed the dam and reservoir to be used in aid of navigation and flood control. California passed the required Limitation Act in 1929. The resulting agreement with Congress is referred to as the Stat- utory Compact between the United States and California, to distinguish it from the Colorado River Compact. Six-State Compact Effective The President, on June 25, 1929, proclaimed the failure of seven-state ratification, and the success of six-state ratification. The six-state Compact and the Project Act thereupon be- came effective, authorizing the construction of Hoover Dam and the Ail-American Canal, on the further condition that the beneficiaries contract in advance to repay their cost. Water and power users in California did so in 1930. |
