Abstract
"To Delph Carpenter - the Father of Interstate River Treaties - we offer a salute. Whenever water users have settled their differences over river flows without expensive and protracted litigation, they owe a debt of gratitude to the man whose efforts, more than those of any other individual, have pointed the way." - Colorado Governor Ralph L. Carr 10/29/1943, Address to the National Reclamation Association
Delph Carpenter's bruising battle with Wyoming over Laramie River water led to the era of interstate water compacts. Astride the Great Divide, Colorado provides source water for five major watersheds, the Platte, the Republican, the Arkansas, the Rio Grande and the Colorado River. Colorado is a party to two U.S. Supreme Court equitable apportionment decrees and nine interstate compacts. Eighteen downstream states and the Republic of Mexico depend upon water that originates within the state. On the average, due to these legal instruments, Colorado can consume only one-third of the water that arises within its borders. Though it took decades to unfold, Colorado's 1876 constitution foretold the state's water-sharing future. The constitutional framers well-knew of Colorado's birth right in the public domain. They consciously invoked the public domain's water heritage when they provided in Article XVI, Section 5, that the "water of every natural stream" is the "property of the public." The term "natural stream" includes tributary ground water as well as surface water. Who constitutes this "public" entitled to use water allocated to Colorado turns out to be every person and entity who can establish a right under Colorado or federal law to use the public's water. Colorado's water allocation amounts, in turn, depend upon the terms of the applicable U.S. Supreme Court equitable apportionment decree or interstate compact approved by Congress. Starting as a champion of prior appropriation, Delph Carpenter became an ardent water compact convert when he realized that downstream states could win an interstate prior appropriation race.
First Page
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Custom Citation
Gregory J. Hobbs Jr., Delph Carpenter's Interstate Water Trials and Tribulations Led to the Water Compact Era, 23 U. Denv. Water L. Rev. 1 (2019).