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Show 158 UPDATING THE HOOVER DAM DOCUMENTS receiving water pre-June 25, 1929, and the water quantities claimed would be the amounts diverted less the amounts of wasted water. In response thereto, on January 13, 1967, the Regional Solicitor, Los Angeles, provided the Deputy Solicitor with a proposed Stipulation of PPRs for the Valley Division of the Yuma Project, the Yuma Auxiliary Project (Unit B), and North Gila Valley in Arizona, and for the Reservation Division of the Yuma Project in California. The rights were stated in the alternative or dual limitation and used much of the background material set out in the aforementioned July 1, 1965, data. The PPRs were also stated in terms of both a 3 and 5 year average prior to June 25, 1929, which had not been done in the July 1, 1965, data. Another principal difference was the use of water figures for each month; e.g., for the 12 months ending June 30, 1929, rather than calendar year figures, because of the June 25, 1929, cutoff date in the Decree. Also, in lieu of using the measured quantities of water diverted from the mainstream, the measurements were taken at the point (or its equivalent) where the water was measured in the pre-June 25, 1929, period. The reason therefor was to avoid complex engineering determinations and apportionments of losses of water between water user entities which shared common diversion facilities. A narrative explanation was provided as to the basis for the water figures. In brief, the acreage claimed for the Valley Division, Yuma Project, was 46,563 acres and 248,000 acre-feet of water measured at the Colorado River Siphon; 1,165 acres and 6,395 acre-feet of water measured at the Unit B head works for Unit B; and 33,000 acre-feet of water measured at the Reservation Division turnouts for 6,125 acres for the Bard Unit. By letter of January 20, 1967, Interior's Solicitor furnished the Solicitor General with a list of PPR claims for the Indian Reservations prepared by Interior which departed from the Article II (D) Decree listing of the total acres of irrigated land and acre-feet of water in each Reservation by breaking these down according to the number of acres in each State and the quantities of water associated therewith. However, the totals for all the rights in all of the States were identical with the Decree totals of 905,496 acre-feet for 136,636 acres. The PPR claims for the Federal reclamation projects were stated in the alternative. With reference to the States position of using a single diversion figure in lieu of a dual limitation, the Solicitor stated: "If the non-Federal parties should obtain a description of their present perfected rights in terms of diversions alone, we will want to assert that Indian rights must be treated in the same fashion. • » • "...we have treated, for present purposes, the list of 'Federal establishments' in the decree as exclusive." On February 9, 1967, the Regional Solicitor's Office prepared a detailed analysis of the information available relating to the establishment of priority dates of the PPRs of the Federal establishments and for the Imperial irrigation District. This indicated that the latter's rights were tenable if premised on a nonstatutory method of appropriation (diversion and use of water) rather than on the notices of appropriation because of failure of the District's predecessor to commence construction within the statutory 60-day period of filing a notice of appropriation. The PPR claims for the reclamation projects, stated in terms of a dual limitation, were 6,801 acre-feet for 1,165 acres within the Yuma Auxiliary Project and 60 acres adjacent thereto; 39,426 acre-feet for 6,215 acres within the Reservation Division; 297,800 acre-feet for 46,563 acres in the Valley Division; and 31,840 acre-feet for North Gila Valley for 5,000 acres. All the above diversions were to be measured at Imperial Dam and had a July 8, 1905, priority date. A narrative justification of each claim was also provided. G. Claims of Present Perfected Rights Filed With Supreme Court On March 9, 1967, Justice filed with the Supreme Court its "List of Present Perfected Rights Claimed by the United States." The claims were essentially in the dual limitation form provided by the Regional Solicitor's Office to the Solicitor on February 15, 1967. The list is set out in Appendix 1001. Likewise, on March 9, 1967, California filed its list of California PPR claims with the Supreme Court, "except those relating to Federal establishments." The major claims, stated in terms of a single consumptive use figure, were 2,806,000 acre-feet for lands within the boundaries of Imperial Irrigation District with a priority date of 1895; 208,100 acre-feet for lands within the boundaries of Palo Verde Irrigation District with a priority date of 1877; and 21,162 acre-feet for the entries and areas irrigated in the Reservation Division, non-Indian |