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Show CHAPTER VIII ARIZONA v. CALIFORNIA A. Background of Litigation The subject litigation developed from the efforts of Arizona to obtain Congressional authorization of the Central Arizona Project (CAP). In 1944 Arizona contracted with the Bureau of Reclamation for a $400,000 cooperative investigation of the means for utilizing Colorado River water in Arizona. A plan for a CAP was developed therefrom and a Bureau of Reclamation report was submitted to the Secretary of the Interior in December 1947. On September 16, 1948, the Secretary of the Interior transmitted to the Congress the Bureau of Reclamation's report which concluded that a proposed CAP, designed to transport water from the Colorado River to an area in central Arizona, was feasible from both an engineering and a financial point of view. However, the Secretary of the Interior's letter of transmittal warned that if Arizona's claims to mainstream water were not well founded, as was contended by California, then "there will be no dependable water supply available from the Colorado River for this diversion." Congressional consideration of the CAP began in the 78th Congress when hearings were held on S.Res.304. Further hearings were held in 1945 during the 79th Congress on similar bills but no action was taken. In the 80th Congress in 1947 hearings were held on S.I 175 to authorize the Bridge Canyon Project, later called the Central Arizona Project, but again no action was taken. In the 81st Congress in 1950 the Senate passed S.75 but no bill was reported by the House Committee. In the 82nd Congress the Senate passed S.75 on June 5, 1951. The House Interior Committee also held hearings and on April 18, 1951, the House Interior and Insular Affairs Committee adopted a resolution providing that consideration of further bills relating to the Arizona Project "...be postponed until such time as use of the water in the lower Colorado River Basin is either adjudicated or binding or mutual agreement as to the use of the water is reached by the States of the Lower Colorado River Basin" (House Report No. 1312, April 24, 1969, 90th Congress, 2nd Session, page 29). B. Suit by Arizona Suit was initiated by Arizona on August 13, 1952, by filing a motion in the Supreme Court for leave to file a bill of complaint against the State of California and seven public agencies of the State. The public agencies are Palo Verde Irrigation District, Imperial Irrigation District, Coachella Valley County Water District, The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the City of Los Angeles, the City of San Diego, and the County of San Diego. On January 19, 1953, the motion, unopposed, was granted (344 U.S. 919). "The complaint invoked the original jurisdiction of the (Supreme) Court under Article III, Section 2, Clause 2 of the Constitution. It alleged that pursuant to the Colorado River Compact and the Boulder Canyon Project Act Arizona was entitled annually to a certain quantity of water from the Colorado River System. It further alleged that various claims asserted by the defendants adversely affected the rights asserted by Arizona and that unless and until such rights were confirmed various existing projects in Arizona could not be operated at present levels and prospective projects could not be financed and constructed. Arizona requested, inter alia, that her title to the annual beneficial consumptive use of 3,800,000 acre-feet of water of the Colorado River System be forever confirmed, that title of the State of California to the annual beneficial consumptive use of Colorado River System water be forever fixed at and limited to 4,400,000 acre-feet, and that the defendants be forever enjoined from asserting claims inconsistent with Arizona's title so confirmed" (see Report of Special Master, December 5, 1960, pages 1 and 2). The United States, pursuant to leave granted, intervened (344 U.S. 919 (1953)) as did Nevada (347 U.S. 985 (1954)). 127 |