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Show RIO GRANDE COMPACT 283 "(f) The term 'power' as applied to the use of water means all uses of water, direct or indirect, for the generation of energy. "(g) 'Spill' or waste of water at a reservoir means the flowage of water over the spillway, or the release of water through outlet structures other than for domestic, municipal, or agricultural uses, and losses incident thereto. "The provisions hereof binding each signatory State shall include and bind its citizens, agents, and corporations, and all others engaged in, or interested in, the diversion, storage, or use of the waters of the Rio Grande in Colorado or New Mexico, or in Texas above Fort Quit- man. "article ii "The States of Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas hereby declare: "(a) That they recognize the paramount right and duty of the United States, in the interests of international peace and harmony, to determine and settle international controveries and claims by treaty, and that when those purposes are accomplished by that means the treaty becomes the supreme law of the Nation; "(b) That since the benefits which flow from the wise exercise of that authority and the just performance of that duty accrue to all the people, it follows as a corollary that the Nation should defray the cost of the discharge of any obligation thus assumed; "(c) That with respect to the Rio Grande, the United States, with- out obligation imposed by international law and 'being moved by con- siderations of international comity,' entered into a treaty dated May 21, 1906 (Thirty-fourth Statutes, page 2953), with the United States of Mexico which obligated the United States of America to deliver from the Rio Grande to the United States of Mexico sixty thousand acre-feet of water annually and forever, whereby in order to fulfill that promise the United States of America, in effect, drew upon the States of Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas a draft worth to them many mil- lions of dollars, and thereby there was cast upon them an obligation which should be borne by the Nation; "(d) That for the economic development and conservation of the waters of the Rio Grande Basin and for the fullest realization of the purposes recited in the preamble to this compact it is of primary im- portance that the area in Colorado known as the Closed Basin be drained and the water thus recovered be added to the flow of the river, and that a reservoir be constructed in Colorado upon the river at or near the site generally described as the State Line Reservoir site. The installation of the drain will materially augment the flow of the river, and the construction of the reservoir will so regulate the flows as to remove forever the principal causes of the difficulties between the States signatory hereto; and "(e) That in alleviation of the heavy burden so placed upon them it is the earnest conviction of these States that without cost to them the United States should construct the Closed Basin Drain and the State Line Reservoir described in paragraph (d). "The signatory States agree that approval by Congress of this com- pact shall not be construed as constituting an acceptance or approval, |