OCR Text |
Show XII-28 UPDATING THE HOOVER DAM DOCUMENTS should be accelerated as needed to meet salinity control objectives. Colorado River Water Supply.-The Colorado River is one of the most highly controlled rivers in the world. It is approaching that point, the initial operation of the Central Arizona project, when little usable water, if any, will ever escape from the basin to the Gulf of California. It is approaching that point also when the natural water supply of the river will be inadequate to meet alf of the demands placed upon it. The water supply of the river is adequate to meet the quantitative water demands of today and in the years immediately ahead. If the upper basin States, however, are to develop their resources at a rate commensurate with their expressed aspirations, it is a certainty that shortages will develop within a time frame that directly affects decisions which need to be made today. Studies'indicate that, with a fairly intensive growth in the upper basin and without augmentation of the river, water shortages in the lower basin could emerge by 1995, and grow continually more severe thereafter. Shortages will occur periodically on upper basin tributaries. The overriding question then is on what water supply basis should the future of the Colorado River Basin service area be planned. The Colorado River, supplying water to such metropolitan complexes as those along the coast of southern California, the Eastern Slope of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, the Upper Rio Grande of New Mexico, and along the Wasatch Front in Utah, has a service area extending far beyond its physical drainage basin. In spite of its very meager water supply more water is exported from this system than from any other in the United States. More than half of the West's population is directly dependent on the Colorado River as a source of water. The Colorado River is not only one of the most physically developed and controlled rivers in the Nation, it is also one of the most institutionally encompassed rivers in the country. There is no other river in the Western Hemisphere that has been the subject of so many disputes of such wide scope during the last half century as the Colorado River. These controversies have permeated the political, social, economic, and legal facets of the seven Colorado Basin States. The many lawsuits and interregional and interstate compacts have resulted from a water supply which is inadequate to meet the existing and potential water demands within the seven Colorado River Basin States. Two primary factors have led to the present water supply problems of the Colorado Basin. The first is that the Colorado River Basin simply does not yield sufficient water on a natural basis to permit full development of land and mineral resources; to provide for fish and wildlife and recreation; and to service other needs. The second is that the negotiators of the Colorado River Compact apportioned a water resource that, at the time of negotiations, appeared much larger than the river has subsequently yielded. The waters of the Colorado River System are divided among the Upper Colorado Basin, the Lower Colorado Basin, the Republic of Mexico, and among the States of the upper and lower basins by interstate compacts, an international treaty, a Supreme Court decision, and by State and Federal legislation. Additional Congressional legislation, agreements with Mexico, and other documents affect and, in some instances, dictate how the river shall be managed and operated. Collectively, these various agreements, guides and directives are known as the "Law of the River." Major benchmarks in the "Law of the River" are: 1. The Colorado River Compact of 1922 which divided the waters of the Colorado River System between the upper and lower basins. 2. The Boulder Canyon Act of 1928 which authorized the construction of Hoover Dam and Powerplant and the All-American Canal. The act also sets the stage for division of lower mainstream waters among the lower basin States. 3. The Upper Colorado River Compact of 1948 that apportioned among the upper basin States the waters of the Colorado River allocated to the upper basin by the Colorado River Compact. 4. The Mexican Water Treaty of 1944 that obligated the United States to deliver 1.5 million 38 |