Cite as: 515 U. S. 1 (1995)
Opinion of the Court
amount of natural flow delivered to the canal, with the result that in dry years water is distributed under "purely a mass [i. e., fixed volume] allocation that sets a cap on the total diversion of each individual canal." Id., at 8. Wyoming thus contends not only that under this system "in a dry year like 1989 the [United States's] allocation effectively replaces the Court decreed 75/25 apportionment," id., at 9, but that the departure from the norm is needlessly great because the system "encourages individual canals to divert as much water as possible during 'non-allocation' years in order to maximize their average diversions which will be the measure of their entitlement in a subsequent dry year allocation," id., at 8, n. 6.
If Wyoming were arguing merely that any administration of storage water that takes account of fluctuations in the natural flow received by a contractee violates the decree, we would reject its claim, for we recognized in 1945 that the outstanding Warren Act contracts contained "agree[ments] to deliver water which will, with all the water to which the land is entitled by appropriation or otherwise, aggregate a stated amount." 325 U. S., at 631. Indeed, we set forth an example of just such a contract in our opinion. Id., at 631, n. 17. In asserting, however, that a predicate to the 1945 decree was that the United States adhered to beneficial use limitations in administering storage water contracts, that it no longer does so, and that this change has caused or permitted significant injury to Wyoming interests, Wyoming has said enough to state a serious claim that ought to be allowed to go forward.2
2 The dissent would disallow Wyoming's cross-claim on the grounds that Wyoming seeks neither to modify the decree (because it asks only for an injunction requiring the United States to adhere to its contracts and to the federal and state law governing storage water) nor to enforce it (since the decree presently contains no such mandate). This leaves Wyoming hanging. It cannot sue under the decree because a mandate of compliance
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