The Colorado River Compact (1922)

The Colorado River Compact divides the Colorado River into Upper and Lower Basins with the division being at Lee Ferry on the Colorado River one mile below the Paria River in Arizona.

The Lower Basin states are Arizona, California, and Nevada, with small portions of New Mexico and Utah that are tributary to the Colorado River below Lee Ferry.

The Upper Basin states are Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, with a small portion of Arizona tributary to the Colorado River above Lee Ferry.

Article III of the Compact apportions the waters of the Colorado River to the Upper and Lower Basins as follows:

The Compact apportions the right to exclusive beneficial consumptive use of 7.5 million acre-feet of water from the "Colorado River System" in perpetuity to the Upper Basin and the Lower Basin.

The Compact allows an additional 1.0 million acre-feet per year of increased beneficial consumptive use to the Lower Basin.

It provides water for Mexico pursuant to treaty. Water must first come from any surplus over the waters allocated to the states in Article III(a) and (b). If that surplus is insufficient, then the burden of that deficiency shall be shared equally by the Upper and Lower Basins.

The Compact provides that the Upper Basin states will not cause the flow of the river at Lee Ferry, Arizona to be depleted below an aggregate of 75 million acre-feet for any period of ten consecutive years beginning with the ratification of the Compact.

It provides that the Upper Basin states will not withhold water and the states of the Lower Basin shall not require delivery of water which cannot reasonably be applied to domestic and agricultural uses.

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