Where is Lee Ferry and Why is It Important?
Probably to most people these days, Lee Ferry, located about 15 miles downstream of the Glen Canyon Dam at Lake Powell, is the put-in point for a rafting trip through the Grand Canyon. After all, it is the only point along the Colorado River between Lake Powell and the Grand Canyon where there is easy access to the river. The access point is named after John Lee, a Mormon who, after observing the access to the river, developed a ferry across the river in the 1870s, to allow crossings.
Lee Ferry gage, on left side of river.
However, Lee Ferry has a very significant importance to water in the West. And, by the way, the correct name is Lee Ferry (as written in the 1922 Colorado River Compact), not Lee’s Ferry, based on being named for John Lee. Because of the access to the river and that it sits conveniently (generally) in the middle of the Colorado River Basin, it was a great place to measure flow in the Colorado River.
When the Colorado River Compact of 1922 was ratified, one of the principal purposes of the Compact was to “provide for the equitable division and apportionment of the use of the waters of the Colorado River System.” Since there are drainage basins in seven western states that drain into the Colorado River (Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and California), the “equitable division and apportionment” of the Colorado River flows resulted in the Colorado River being divided into the States of the Upper Division (Colorado, Wyoming, New Mexico, and Utah) and the States of the Lower Division (Nevada, Arizona, and California). These divisions are more commonly referred to today as the Upper Basin States and the Lower Basin States. The apportionment to the Upper and Lower Basin States was 7,500,000 acre-feet per year each, or 15,000,000 acre-feet per year total.
Lee Ferry flow measuring cable car, used to cross river to get to the gage.
How do we know how much water gets delivered to the Lower Basin States in a given year? You guessed it - the USGS gage at Lee’s Ferry (the cable car used to measure flow is in the foreground and the recording station is shown in the background.) So this is pretty easy right? There’s 15,000,000 acre-feet per year in the Colorado River system, the Upper Basin States utilize 7,500,000 acre-feet and deliver 7,500,000 acre-feet to the Lower Basin States, as measured at Lee Ferry. What could go wrong with that simple math?
Well, a few things: First of all, the authors of the Compact didn’t have the advantage of looking into the future and instead had to use the flow records on the Colorado River that were available to them at the time (1922). Unfortunately, those records were of a relatively wet period so, in determining how much water was available for apportionment to the Upper and Lower Basin States, more water was allocated than is typically available in the river today.
Once that issue was recognized, just re-negotiate the Compact and reduce the amount of water to be apportioned between the Upper and Lower Basin States and measured at the Lee Ferry gage, what could be easier? Again, just simple math, take the water available, divide it by two and we’re done.
However, Article 3(d) of the Compact states that “the States of the Upper Division will not cause the flow of the river at Lee Ferry to be depleted below an aggregate of 75,000,000 acre-feet for any period of ten consecutive years.” That sounds to me like an obligation of the Upper Basin States to deliver water to the Lower Basin States regardless of the flow conditions in the Colorado River over any 10-year running period because the Upper Basin States cannot deplete flows below the aggregate. Under Article 3(d), it doesn’t seem like there is any incentive for the Lower Basin States to agree to my simple mathematical formula. In fact, they have never agreed to a reduction in their apportionment. There is now a Drought Contingency Plan (2019) associated with the Compact apportionments that could curtail uses under the Compact based on water levels in Lake Mead, but that is the subject for another blog – stay tuned!
But it gets worse: Article 3(c) of the Compact states that “whenever necessary the States of the Upper Division shall deliver at Lee Ferry water to supply one-half of the deficiency so recognized in addition to that provided in paragraph (d).” The argument has now raged for over 100 years: Is there an obligation of the Upper Basin States to not deplete the river flows by more than its apportionment, or is it a duty to deliver the apportionment no matter what? I’m not going to try and answer that question; however, living in an Upper Basin State, it obviously is a duty to not deplete (in my opinion)!!
This is the distinction between the two statements in the argument:
With a duty to deliver, the Upper Basin States are required to deliver 75,000,000 acre-feet to the Lower Basin States over 10-year running averages, regardless if there is 150 million acre-feet in the river in a 10-year period or 100 million acre-feet. This math will tell you that the Upper Basin States get shortchanged as they will be fully responsible for supporting a full allocation to the Lower Basin States regardless of the actual available water supply.
Conversely, with a duty not to deplete, as long as the Upper Basin States don’t consume their apportionment through anthropogenic uses of the available water, they are not in violation of the Compact. In this way, the burden related to there being less water in the Colorado River than the framers of the Compact anticipated, falls on both the Upper and Lower Basin States. This interpretation seems more fair doesn’t it, unless of course you ask someone from California?!
This is a simple (?) introduction to the complexities of the 1922 Compact and I haven’t even touched on Mexico’s allocation or the 1948 Upper Colorado River Basin Compact, or the recent Drought Contingency Plan and how climate change may affect everything. Look for more blogs to come on this exciting and complex issue, and also say Lee Ferry, it lets people know you understand the Colorado River Compact!
For more information on this subject or any Western water rights issue, please contact us at 303-350-4090 or by email.
Bruce Lytle, P.E. bruce@lytlewater.com
Chris Fehn, P.E., P.G. chris@lytlewater.com
Anna Elgqvist, EI anna@lytlewater.com
