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14 CALIFORNIA S STAKE IN THE COLORADO RIVER others to initiate pi perfect any claims to the use of water pertinent to such works or structures unless and until (1) the States of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada IS ew Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming shall have ratified the Colorado River Compact’ mentioned in Section 13 hereof, and the President by public proclamation shall have so declared, or (2) if said states fail to ratify the said compact within six months from the date of^ the passage of this act then, until six of said states, including the State of California, shall ratify said compact and shall consent to waive the provisions ’ of the first paragraph of Article X I of said compact, which makes the Same binding and obligatory only when approved by each of the seven states signatory thereto, and shall have approved said compact without conditions, save that of such six-state approval, and the President by public ’ proclamation shall have so declared, and, further,' until the State o f California, by act of its Legislature, shall agree irrevocably and unconditionally with the United States and for the benefit of the States of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, as an express-covenant and m consideration of the passage of this act, that the aggregate annual consumptive use: (diversions less returns to the river) of water of and from the Colorado River tor use m the State of California, including all uses under contracts made under the provisions of this act and all water necessary for the supply of any rights which mav now exist, shall not exceed 4,400,000 acre-feet of the wafers apportioned to the lower basin states by paragraph (a) of Article III of the Colorado River Compact plus not more than one-half of any excess or surplus waters unapportioned by said compact such uses always to be subject to the terms of said compact. A second paragraph of this: section of the act-also authorized the States of Arizona, California and Nevada to enter into,a compact divid­ing the Water apportioned to the Lower Basin under the compact, and suggested specific terms therefor. However, that proposed tri-state com­pact was not executed and its suggested terms have no weight in law, since tin; provision was merely an authorization and not a binding declaration by the Congress. The California Legislature which convened in 1929 promptly gave consideration to the matter of limitation and on March 4, 1929, ratified the six-state compact and accepted the water limitation in the exact words of the Project Act. On ,1 one.25, .1929, six safes: including. California having ratified the compapt, President Hoover declared the Boulder Canyon Project Act in full effect. Under the provisions of the Project Act, the Colorado River Compact also became fully effective. Power Contracts In 1930 power contracts were executed by the Secretary of the Interior with the Metropolitan Water District ,of Southern California, the City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the South­ern California Edison Company, Inc., and others. Under these contracts, all of the power output of the Hoover Dam power plant was disposed of and commitments made, to purchase all of the power, at a price which was fixed largely on the basis of competitive cost of steam generated power and which would yield a revenue calculated to be sufficient to meet the capital and annual costs of the dam and power plant. CALIFORNIA’s STAKE IN THE: COLORADO RIVER 15 W ater Contracts During the period from 1930 to 1934, contracts were executed under the terms of the Project Act by the Secretary o f the Interior \vi1h the several Southern California agencies concerned, for storage and delivery of water from Hoover Dam Reservoir (Lake Mead). It was necessary prior to their execution for these California agencies to agree among themselves as to the division or allocation of Colorado River water to which California would be entitled under the limitation placed upon the State by the Project Act and accepted by act of the State Legislature, On November 5, 1930, Secretary of Interior Wilbur requested that this be accomplished with the assistance and approval of the State Division of Water Rights, and further suggested that the agreed allocations be included as a uniform clause in all of the water contracts. On August 18, 1931, after several months of negotiations, the Cali­fornia agencies concerned signed an agreement apportioning among themselves the waters of the Colorado River available to California under the compact and the Project Act, both as to' amount and priority as follows: Priority , No. 1. 3. 4. 6. Agency and description Palo Verde Irrigation District— 104,500 acres in) and adjoining existing district-.,------- ,------ Yuma Project (California Division)- iiig 25,000 acres— . •. ----------- - .. -Not exceed- j (a) Imperial Irrigation District and lands in Imperial ? and Coachella Valleys to' be served by All American C anal--------------------------------------------- (b) Palo Verde Irrigation District-—16,000 acres of adjoining mesa t ___—'.i—— — —I— Metropolitan Water District, City of Los Angeles and/or others on coastal plain--------------------------- (a) Metropolitan Water District, City of Los Angeles and/or others on coastal pJainALi.'------------ —— (b ) City a nd/or County. SanSDiegO—., . ---- :— — - (a) Imperial Irrigation District and lands in Imperial^ and Coachella Valleys to be served by All-Ameri­can Canal (b) Palo Verde Irrigation District—16,000 -acres o f) ' adjoining mesa - A nniial quantity in aere-feet 3,850,000 550,000 550.000 112.000 300,000 Total 5,362,000 A seventh priority with respect to all remaining water available for use in California was apportioned for agricultural use in the Colorado River Basin in California as shown on Map No. 23,000 of the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation.