138 OUR USE OF THE LAND 



pact. Such a compact must be accepted by the state legislatures 

 and the federal Congress. One of the most important of these 

 compacts was that drawn up by commissioners from New 

 York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Its purpose was to gov 

 ern the use of the Delaware River. It was to establish a method 

 for New York to draw water from the Delaware River for the 

 New York City water supply without damaging the rights of 

 the water users of the other states. The state legislatures would 

 not accept the plan drawn up by the commissioners of the 

 three states. After three years of controversy, during which 

 time the water supply of New York City was getting dan' 

 gerously low, the whole problem was handed to the federal 

 Supreme Court to decide. 



Another type of interstate control of streams is the creation 

 of an Authority. For example, the problems of New York 

 harbor concern both New York and New Jersey. The legis' 

 latures of these two states created a joint administrative agency, 

 the New York and New Jersey Port Authority. This agency 

 plans and pays for bridges, docks, and other similar projects 

 and manages the harbor. 31 



Our use of water in America has, like our use of other natural 

 resources, been determined wholly by need. We have never 

 thought it necessary to limit our use to those things which are 

 important to all of us and save the surplus for the future. It is 

 only when we are faced with shortages that we realise how 

 necessary careful planning is. Of that necessity there can be no 

 surer sign than the decision of the Supreme Court on the water 

 of the Connecticut. The fact that the laws of the arid West 

 must be applied to the water of the humid East shows how 

 the wise control of water has become imperative for America 

 regardless of climate or rainfall. 



31 Loc. ctt. 



