- 4 - Department of the Interior (Interior Department), Arizona, each year, had claim to 2.8 million acre-feet of Colorado River water. In 1964, under Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. sec. 48-2901 (West 1997), the Harquahala Valley Irrigation District (HID) was formed as an Arizona municipal corporation or political subdivision, and not as a taxable corporation, for the purpose of establishing a local water distribution system in and about Harquahala Valley, Arizona. With regard specifically to water irrigation districts, under Ariz. Rev. Stat. Ann. sec. 48-2978 (West 1997), it is provided, among other things, that irrigation districts may purchase or acquire water rights, construct, acquire, and purchase canals, ditches, and reservoirs, and distribute water for irrigation purposes. In 1968, pursuant to the Boulder Canyon Project Act and apparently as a followup to the Supreme Court’s decision in Arizona v. California, supra, the Colorado River Basin Project Act (CRBPA), Pub. L. 90-537, 82 Stat. 885 (1968), was enacted, which authorized construction by the Federal Government of the Central Arizona Project (CAP), a system of aqueducts and related facilities for distribution of lower Colorado River water throughout Central Arizona. Under this statute, Colorado River water that would become available for irrigation of land in Arizona through the CAP distribution system generally was to be made available only to land that had a “recent irrigation history”. CRBPA sec. 304, 82 Stat. 891.Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011