Cite as: 515 U. S. 1 (1995)
Opinion of the Court
favor of the flat percentage system," as against a scheme even more favorable to Nebraska, ibid.
In rejecting Wyoming's original proposal, which was to combine water from storage and natural flow and apportion both by volume among the different users, id., at 621, we anticipated that the storage supply would "be left for distribution in accordance with the contracts which govern it," id., at 631. In doing so, we were clearly aware of the beneficial use limitations that govern federal contracts for storage water. Contracts between the United States and individual water users on the North Platte, we pointed out, had been made and were maintained in compliance with § 8 of the Reclamation Act of 1902, 32 Stat. 388, 43 U. S. C. §§ 372, 383, which provided that " 'the right to the use of water acquired under the provisions of this Act shall be appurtenant to the land irrigated, and beneficial use shall be the basis, the measure, and the limit of the right.' " 325 U. S., at 613. In addition, contracts had been made under the Warren Act, 36 Stat. 925, 43 U. S. C. §§ 523-525, which granted the Secretary of the Interior the further power to contract for the storage and delivery of water available in excess of the requirements of any given project managed under the Reclamation Act. See Nebraska I, supra, at 631, 639-640.
Under this system, access to water from storage facilities was only possible by a contract for its use, Nebraska I, 325 U. S., at 640, and apportionment of storage water would have disrupted that system. "If storage water is not segregated, storage water contractors in times of shortage of the total supply will be deprived of the use of a part of the storage supply for which they pay . . . [and] those who have not contracted for the storage supply will receive at the expense of those who have contracted for it a substantial increment to the natural flow supply which, as we have seen, has been insufficient to go around." Ibid. Hence, we refrained from apportioning stored water and went no further than capping
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