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Show CHAPTER II UNITED STATES COLORADO RIVER WATER DELIVERY AND RELATED CONTRACTS A. Background The United States, acting through the Secretary of the Interior, has entered into Colorado River water delivery contracts under authority of the Boulder Canyon Project Act of December 21, 1928, 45 Stat. 1057. Section 5 authorizes such contracts and prohibits the use of stored water by anyone except by such contract. Prior to that, contracts were made under the Reclamation Act of 1902; water deliveries were made to lands in reclamation projects, such as the Yuma Project in Arizona and California, pursuant to water right applications filed by individual landowners; and diversions were permitted from such facilities (Laguna Dam); e.g., to lands in the North Gila Valley (Section 13(a) of the Project Act also approved the 1922 Colorado River Compact) . Contracts have been entered into with the State of Nevada, through its Colorado River Commission, dated March 30, 1942, Ilr-1399, for the delivery of not to exceed 100,000 acre-feet of water per year for consumptive use (Article 5(a)). A charge of 50 cents per acre-foot is made during the Boulder Dam cost repayment period and, thereafter, the charge is to be on such basis as may be prescribed by Congress (Article 9). On January 3, 1944, a supplemental contract was executed in which the 100,000 acre-feet was raised to 300,000 acre-feet. A contract has also been entered into with the State of Arizona dated February 9, 1944, for the delivery of a maximum of 2.8 maf/yr plus one-half of the excess or surplus water unapportioned by the Compact, to the extent it is available for use in Arizona under the Compact, and also subject to the right of Nevada to contract for l/25th of any excess or surplus waters. Article 7(1) recognizes the Secretary's authority to contract with users in Arizona and provides that consumptive uses in Arizona are a discharge pro tanto of the obligation of the Arizona contract. A charge of 50 cents per acre-foot is made for diversions directly from Lake Mead during the Boulder Dam cost repayment period and a charge of not more than 25 cents per acre-foot is specified for diversions below Boulder Dam. Unlike the situation in Arizona and Nevada where the Secretary entered into water delivery contracts with the States, there is no similar contract with the State of California. Rather, there are individual contracts with the five major Colorado River water using agencies in that State. Similarly, except for approximately 100,000 acre-feet of water which Arizona wants reserved for additional municipal and industrial uses along the river, the Secretary has entered into water delivery contracts with individual water using agencies in Arizona and Nevada for quantities which have fully utilized those apportioned to each of those States by the Supreme Court in Arizona v. California. B. California Water Delivery Contracts The background of the water delivery contracts executed by the Secretary following passage of the Boulder Canyon Project Act of December 21, 1928, 45 Stat. 1057, has been described in "The Hoover Dam Documents, Wilbur and Ely, 1948," at pages 101-114. B.I. Seven-Party Priority Agreement In California, their execution followed the California Seven-Party Agreement of August 18, 1931, and the Department of Interior's general regulations of September 28, 1931. Each of the current California contracts recites the complete list of the quantities and priorities set forth in the California Seven-Party Agreement of August 18, 1931, rather than a specific quantity of water allocated only to the individual contractor. In brief, these quantities and priorities are as follows: 29 |
