78
Opinion of the Court
Section 181 ultimately required Maryland and Virginia to enter into an agreement with the Secretary of the Army apportioning the waters of the Potomac River during times of low flow. 90 Stat. 2939-2940. At the outset of negotiations over § 181, Maryland proposed a draft bill that asserted her exclusive authority to allocate water from the Potomac. Virginia officials protested Maryland's proposal in three congressional hearings during the summer of 1976, asserting Virginia's unqualified right to withdraw water from the River, and objecting that Maryland's bill " 'might deprive Virginia of its riparian rights to the waters of the Potomac River as guaranteed by the 1785 compact . . . and the arbitration award of 1877 . . . .' " Omnibus Water Resources Development Act of 1976: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Water Resources of the Senate Committee on Public Works, 94th Cong., 2d Sess., 2068 (statement of J. Leo Bourassa) (Aug. 5, 1976); see also Potomac River: Hearings and Markup before the Subcommittee on Bicentennial Affairs, the Environment, and the International Community, and the House Committee on the District of Columbia, 94th Cong., 2d Sess., 680, 693-694, 703 (statement of Earl Shiflet) (June 25, 1976); Water Resources Development—1976: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Water Resources of the House Committee on Public Works and Transportation, 94th Cong., 2d Sess., 442-446 (statement of Eugene Jensen) (Aug. 31, 1976). As a result of Virginia's protest, the final legislation provided that "nothing in this section shall alter any riparian rights or other authority of . . . the Commonwealth of Virginia, or any political subdivision thereof . . . relative to the appropriation of water from, or the use of, the Potomac River." 42 U. S. C. § 1962d-11a(c). Similarly, nothing in the Low Flow Allocation Agreement reached by Maryland and Virginia pursuant to the WRDA suggested that Maryland had authority to regulate Virginia's riparian rights in the River. Va. Lodging L-285 to L-309. We hold that § 181 of the WRDA and the Low Flow Allocation Agreement are conclusive evi-
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