Water Settlement

Paper Summary:

This paper presents an examination of the water issues of the western United States. It explores the history of water need and supply in both the upper basin and the lower basin states and then discusses what the impact of the Colorado Compact has had on those states. It concludes by discussing the need for future monitoring of the water flow and allotments.

Table of Contents:
Introduction
History
Colorado
Colorado River Compact
Law of the River
The Future
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"As the years began to pass the upper basin states began to disagree about the allocations of the 7.5 million acre feet they had been using as a group. An easy way to examine this era of the water supply development is to imagine a family in which there are seven children. Instead of handing each child a piece of cake the parents put a cake down and leave the room and say, "Go ahead and share that cake". If they repeat this process daily or weekly it will not be long before some of the siblings begin believing that other siblings are getting more than an equal share of the cake. They will think it is unfair that they have to depend on the others sense of fairness to be sure they too get a large enough piece. This is what happened in the situation with the upper basin states and the Colorado River supply. The states were expected to work among themselves and divide up the provided 7.5 million acre feet and they began to have disagreements about who was using how much of that total water supply. States that began to grow more quickly in population and water need than other states felt they had a right to more of the water while the states that were experiencing slower growth patterns had concerns that they would not be able to promote growth if the other states used most of the water supply."

Sample of Sources Used:

• 1922 DEAL DISTRIBUTED LIQUID BOUNTY COLORADO RIVER COMPACT HELPED 7 STATES PROSPER Denver Rocky Mountain News; 4/27/1999; Deborah Frazier; News Staff Writer
• Colorado Lawmakers Approve Water Charter aP Online; 4/25/2006; STEVEN K. PAULSON, Associated Press Writer AP Online 04-25-2006
• water http://www.lacity.org/ead/EADWeb-WNR/drinking_water.htm
• William Mulholland and the Rise of Los Angeles (Paperback) by Catherine Mulholland University of California Press; 1 edition (May 6, 2002)
• RIVER LAW http://www.lakepowell.org/page_two/information/law_of_the_river/law_of_the_river.html

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