Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 82.djvu/934

 892

43 USC 617t. Water exchanges

Water shortage priorities.

New Mexico users, water exchange contracts.

PUBLIC LAW 90-537-SEPT. 30, 1968

[82 STAT.

said contractor's service area unless the Secretary and such contractor shall agree, or shall have previously agreed, that a surplus of ground water exists and that drainage is or was required. Such contracts shall be subordinate at all times to the satisfaction of all existing contracts between the Secretary and users in Arizona heretofore made pursuant to the Boulder Canyon Project Act (45 Stat. 1057). (d) The Secretary may require in any contract under which water is provided from the Central Arizona Project that the contractor agree to accept main stream water in exchange for or in replacement of existing supplies from sources other than the main stream. The Secretary shall so require in the case of users in Arizona who also use water from the Gila River system to the extent necessary to make available to users of water from the Gila River system in New Mexico additional quantities of water as provided in and under the conditions specified in subsection (f) of this section: Provided, That such exchanges and replacements shall be accomplished without economic injury or cost to such Arizona contractors. (e) I n times of shortage or reduction of main stream Colorado River water for the Central Arizona Project, as determined by the Secretary, users which have yielded water from other sources in exchange for main stream water supplied by that project shall have a first priority to receive main stream water, as against other users supplied by that project which have not so yielded water from other sources, but only m quantities adequate to replace the water so yielded. (f)(1) In the operation of the Central Arizona Project, the Secretary shall offer to contract with water users in New Mexico for water from the Gila River, its tributaries and underground water sources in amounts that will permit consumptive use of water in New Mexico of not to exceed an annual average in any period of ten consecutive years of eighteen thousand acre-feet, including reservoir evaporation, over and above the consumptive uses provided for by article IV of the decree of the Supreme Court of the United States in Arizona against California (376 U.S. 340). Such increased consumptive uses shall not begin until, and shall continue only so long as, delivery of Colorado River water to downstream Gila River users in Arizona is being accomplished in accordance with this Act, in quantities sufficient to replace any diminution of their supply resulting from such diversion from the Gila River, its tributaries and underground water sources. I n determining the amount required for this purpose full consideration shall be given to any differences in the quality of the waters involved. (2) The Secretary shall further offer to contract with water users in New Mexico for water from the Gila River, its tributaries, and underground water sources in amounts that will permit consumptive uses of water in New Mexico of not to exceed an annual average in any period of ten consecutive years of an additional thirty thousand acrefeet, including reservoir evaporation. Such further increases in consumptive use shall not begin until, and shall continue only so lon^ as, works capable of augmenting the water suppl^^ of the Colorado River system have been completed and water sufficiently in excess of two million eight hundred thousand acre-feet per annum is available from the main stream of the Colorado River for consumptive use in Arizona to provide water for the exchanges herein authorized and provided. I n determining the amount required for this purpose full consideration shall be given to any differences in the quality of the waters involved. (3) All additional consumptive uses provided for in clauses (1) and (2) of this subsection shall be subject to all rights in New Mexico and Arizona as established by the decree entered by the United States District Court for the District of Arizona on June 29, 1935, in United States against Gila Valley Irrigation District and others (Globe Equity Numbered 59) and to all other rights existing on the effective

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