THE IEEIGATION AGE. 



865 



INTERSTATE WATER RIGHTS. 



BY G. N. HOUSTON, C. E. 



One of the most important questions affecting Colorado 

 today is the matter of interstate water rights. This state 

 is in a very enviable position with regard to water. Prac- 

 tically all the streams in the state rise within its borders and 

 the question naturally presents itself, has Colorado the right 

 to use all these waters without regard to the adjoining 

 states? We have assumed that we have and have proceeded 

 to appropriate all we could get sometimes, as in the case 

 of the Arkansas river, leaving nothing for the people of 

 Kansas. This gave rise to the famous Kansas-Colorado 

 case which was decided in 1907 by the Supreme Court of the 

 United States. 



The state of Kansas sued the state of Colorado, claiming 

 that the people of this state had appropriated and used all 

 the waters of the Arkansas river, thereby damaging the 

 state of Kansas. 



I will quote a paragraph from the conclusion which gives 

 a very concise statement of the opinion of the court. 



Summing up our conclusions, "We are of the opinion 

 that the appropriation of the waters of the Arkansas by 

 Colorado for purposes of irrigations, has diminished the flow 

 of water into the state of Kansas ; that the result of that 

 appropriation has been the reclamation of large areas in 

 Colorado, transforming thousands of acres into fertile fields 

 and rendering possible their occupation and cultivation when 

 otherwise they would have continued barren and unoccupied ; 

 that while the influence of such diminution has been of per- 

 ceptible injury to portions of the Arkansas valley in Kansas, 

 particularly those portions closest to the Colorado line, yet 

 to the great body of the valley it has worked little, if any, 

 detriment, and regarding the interests of both states and the 

 right of each to receive benefit through irrigation, and 

 in any other manner from the waters of this stream, we 

 are not satisfied that Kansas has made out a case entitling 

 it to a decree. At the same time it is obvious that if the 

 depletion of the waters of the river by Colorado continues 

 to increase, there will come a time when Kansas may justly 

 say that there is no longer an equitable division of benefits, 

 and may rightfully call for relief against the action of 

 Colorado, its corporations and citizens in appropriating the 

 waters of the Arkansas for irrigation purposes. 



The decree which, therefor, will be entered, will be one 

 dismissing the petition of the intervenor, without prejudice 

 to the rights of the United States to take such action as 

 it shall deem necessary to preserve or improve the naviga- 

 bility of the Arkansas river. The decree will also dismiss 

 the bill of the state of Kansas as against all the defendants, 

 without prejudice to the right of the plaintiff to institute 

 new proceedings whenever it shall appear that through a 

 material increase in the depletion of the waters of the Ar- 

 kansas by Colorado, its corporations or citizens, the sub- 

 stantial interests of Kansas are being injured to the extent 

 of destroying the equitable apportionment of benefits between 

 the two states resulting from the flow of the river. Each 

 party will pay its own costs." 



The last portion of this paragraph is especially interest- 

 ing as the United States Irrigation Company, a Kansas cor- 

 poration, has recently started an action against certain Colo-- 

 rado irrigation companies in the Arkansas valley, claiming 

 that they have a prior right to certain waters of the Arkansas. 

 This involves the broad question of whether priority of 

 appropriation is to apply to the whole stream from source 

 to mouth regardless of state lines, or whether the people 

 of this state, for instance, can appropriate and use all the 

 water to the exclusion of prior appropriations in states further 

 down the river. 



To the person not familiar with the use and distribu- 

 tion of water this may seem to be a very simple matter, 

 and if he has no personal interests at stake he will be apt 

 to decide in favor of priority of right on the whole stream. 

 There is, however, another phase of the question, that of 

 maximum beneficial use. 



Suppose this case, for instance : A. B, C and D have 

 equal appropriation in the order given. A's appropriation is 

 earlier than B, C, or D's, but he is located several miles 

 below them on the stream. Assume that the bed of the 

 stream is sandy, such as is commonly found on the plains. 

 There is sufficient water passing D's headgate to supply three 

 out of four of these rights, but in order to carry A's appro- 



priation down to him we are obliged to run three times his 

 appropriation past B, C and D. That is, we waste twice 

 as much water as we put to beneficial use. Many water com- 

 missions in this state have faced a similar problem. 



Where there are reservoirs this can be solved by an ex- 

 change of reservoir water further down and nearer A, -for the 

 water in the stream near B, C and D. Where no exchanges 

 of this kind can be made the law of prior appropriation re- 

 quires A to be furnished first, but it would seem that the 

 interest of the public in general would be better served by 

 a more economical use of the water. This matter of inter- 

 state water rights has come up between Wyoming and this 

 state in connection with the appropriation on the Larimer 

 river made by the Greeley Poudre Irrigation district. 



Also on the Rio Grande river in connection with the 

 Engle dam project of the reclamation service in New Mexico, 

 which was discussed in the daily papers and at the irrigation 

 congress held at Pueblo recently. This is only the begin- 

 ning of the trouble as the question will ultimately arise be- 

 tween this state and all adjoining states. I would suggest 

 that matters of this kind could be settled far more satis- 

 factorily and with less cost to the states concerned by a 

 commission appointed by each state to be known as the 

 interstate water commission, of the states appointing the 

 same. If the states of Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, New 

 Mexico, Utah and Arizona would appoint commissions of 

 this kind, questions of an interstate nature could be settled 

 by a conference between the commissions of the states in- 

 volved. The state engineer of each state should be ex-officto 

 member of the commission, and the other members appointed 

 one from each of the larger irrigation divisions. 



In conclusion I would say that while Colorado started 

 on its career as a mining state and has risen to its present 

 importance on that foundation, it does today and will hence- 

 forth depend upon irrigated agriculture for its maintenance 

 and further development. 



IRRIGATION PROJECTS UNDER WAY. 



Construction work has been started at White Bluffs, 

 Wash., on a project designed to irrigate 75,000 acres of land 

 in the Columbia River Valley. Water will be supplied by the 

 Pacific Power & Light Company, which operates a hydro- 

 electric plant on the Columbia river near Priest Rapids. The 

 company also is extending its high-tension lines from Priest 

 Rapids to Hanford, Wahluke, Kennewick, Pasco, Mattawa, 

 Moses Lake and Ephrata, Wash., to supply power for irriga- 

 tion purposes. E. Campbell, president of the Mattawa Power 

 and Irrigation Company, says 100,000 acres of land in the 

 Priest River Valley is being put under ditches by the de- 

 velopment of water power of the rapids. 



United States Senator Jones says in a letter to H. M. 

 Gilbert of Toppenish, Wash., that every possible effort will 

 be made to secure action toward building the reservoirs at the 

 headwaters of the Yakima river in central Washington, so 

 that if the government does not undertake the building of 

 the canals there will be ample supply for projects, the water 

 to be sold to corporations under the Warren bill. 



Colonel Adebert M. Dewey of Spokane, head of the 

 Okanogan Irrigation and Improvement Company, announces 

 that work on fifty miles of canals and ditches on his project 

 ,011 Whitestone flat and Horsespring coulee in Okanogan 

 county, Wash., will begin early in April with a view to com- 

 pleting it in November. Sixty men and teams will be em- 

 ployed. Three options are offered : Each man to take his 

 work out in money. land or stock. None will receive any- 

 thing until the end of the seven months. At the end of the 

 seven months a single man will have $700 to his credit, which 

 he can take in cash, or apply it on the land, or take it out 

 in stock in the company. A man and a team will earn $1,300. 



Hanford Irrigation & Power Company is rushing work 

 at several points near Hanford, Wash. One hundred men 

 and twenty-five teams are at work at Priest Rapids, where 

 the improvements at the pumping station at Coyote will be 

 completed early in April. One hundred and seventy-five men 

 are at work on the irrigation canal cleaning and cementing 

 it in time for the spring irrigation season. 



Send $1.00 for the Irrigation Age 1 year, and 

 paper bound copy of the Primer of Irrigation 



