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Show -18- by compact was agreed upon in principle.67 The consent of Congress for such a compact accelerated its realization.68 A second series of confer- ences of the accredited commissioners of the seven States, in "which the special claims of each State were voiced at public hearings* and the con- oem of the United States vas represented by Secretary Hoover, evolved the details of the plan now known as the Colorado River Compact.69 In sum, the compact formulates the terms of a policy for the present equitable ap- portionment of the vaters of the Colorado River System, and also provides machinery and method for continuous supervision and adaptations of policy to changing conditions* The compact has cleared the hurdles of six legis- latures and will come into effect if and when Arizona ratifies.?0 Measured by the vastness of the region and the magnitude of the interests regulated the Colorado Compact represents, thus far the most ambitious illustration of interstate agreements* The widespread public discussion elicited by the evolution of the Colorado River Compact has served to educate the irrigation States to the possibilities of the compact idea* Six projects for like settlement of other interstate irrigation difficulties followed* One has been perfected by recent consent of Congressj71 another has been embodied in an agreement ratified by one state;72 the terms of a third have been agreed upon$73 for three others commissioners to formulate a compact have been appointed.74 The control of floods through drainage works is a growing subject of controversy between States.. Litigation, when resorted to, has been long drawn out, costly and inconclusive. Again the States turn to compact. Surveys of drainage areas affecting more than one State and looking toward regulation by agreement are being undertaken through the joint action of the in-terested States, in collaboration with the Secretary of War.75 Flood control through irrigation and drainage work is bound to demand attention through the increasing development of our* inland water ways. The geo- graphic unit of a river or lake basin is its drainage area* The legal unit must correspond to the geographic or engineering unit. Control will frequently have to be interstate? compact is apt to be its most effective form. ! An adequate water supply for our teeming city populations presents one 67The story of this movement is probably best related by D. E. Carpenter Commissioner for Colorado, in his Report to the Governor of Colorado, sub- mitted to the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives, hearings in re H. R. 6821 (1921) 16-20, 6? Cong. 1st Sess. 66Act of Aug. 19* 1921 (1+2. Stat. at L. 171 )• 69Report of Sec. of Commerce (1922) 10. 7Osee Appx. A, III, (3k) infra. T^See Appx. A, III (38) infra. 72see Appx. A, IV, (l) infra. 73 See Appx. A, IV, (3) infra. 7*4See Appx. A, IV, (2), (3)» (h)> infra. 75See Appx. A, III, (28), (8); VI, (ll) infra. |
