Cite as: 540 U. S. 56 (2003)
Opinion of the Court
enjoyment of her riparian ownership, without impeding the navigation or otherwise interfering with the proper use of it by Maryland, agreeably to the compact of seventeen hundred and eighty-five." Act of Mar. 3, 1879, ch. 196, 20 Stat. 482 (internal quotation marks omitted).
The Black-Jenkins Award was ratified by the Legislatures of Maryland and Virginia, 1878 Md. Laws ch. 274; 1878 Va. Acts ch. 246, and approved by the United States Congress, pursuant to the Compact Clause of the Constitution, Art. I, § 10, cl. 3; Act of Mar. 3, 1879, ch. 196, 20 Stat. 481. See also Wharton, 153 U. S., at 172-173. We held that when Congress approved the Black-Jenkins Award it implicitly consented to the 1785 Compact as well. Id., at 173.3
In 1933, Maryland established a permitting system for water withdrawal and waterway construction taking place within Maryland territory. 1933 Md. Laws ch. 526, §§ 4, 5 (current version codified at Md. Envir. Code Ann. § 5-501 et seq. (1996)). In 1956, Fairfax County became the first Virginia municipal corporation to apply for a water withdrawal permit, seeking leave to withdraw up to 15 million gallons of water per day. App. to Exceptions of Maryland to Report of Special Master 196. Maryland granted that permit in 1957. Between 1957 and 1996, Maryland issued, without objection, at least 29 water withdrawal permits to Virginia entities. Id., at 57, 197-205. Since 1968, it has likewise issued numerous waterway construction permits to Virginia entities. Id., at 276-280.
In 1996, the Fairfax County Water Authority (FCWA) sought permits from Maryland for construction of a water intake structure extending 725 feet from the Virginia shore above the tidal reach of the Potomac River. The structure
3 Because Maryland and Virginia entered into the 1785 Compact prior to the adoption of the United States Constitution, Congress had not previously approved it pursuant to the Constitution's Compact Clause. See generally Wharton, 153 U. S., at 165-173.
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