who decides where the water in the colorado river system goes
Colorado River Compact
title: Colorado River text: between Baja California and Sonora. Known for its dramatic canyons, whitewater rapids, and eleven U.S. National Parks, the Colorado River and its tributaries are a vital source of water for 40 million people. The river and its tributaries are controlled by an extensive system of dams, reservoirs, and aqueducts, which in most years divert its entire flow for agricultural irrigation and domestic water supply. Its large flow and steep gradient are used for generating hydroelectric power, and its major dams regulate peaking power demands in much of the Intermountain West. Intensive water consumption has dried up the lower of the title: Colorado River text: , poured into the sea. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) operates or has operated 46 stream gauges to measure the discharge of the Colorado River, ranging from the headwaters near Grand Lake to the Mexico–U.S. border. The tables at right list data associated with eight of these gauges. River flows as gauged at Lee's Ferry, Arizona, about halfway along the length of the Colorado and below Glen Canyon Dam, are used to determine water allocations in the Colorado River basin. The average discharge recorded there was approximately , per year, from 1921 to 2010. This figure has been heavily title: Water in Colorado text: to each of the states, allowing agricultural irrigation, urban development, and large projects such as the Hoover Dam and Lake Powell. More compacts covering other river basins soon followed. The central state office is the Colorado Division of Water Resources. The Colorado Water Conservation Board also has an important role. Colorado is known as the "Headwaters State" because several of the West's most important rivers rise in its Rocky Mountains. Colorado has eight major river basins and several aquifers. The majority of the water supply falls as snow in the Rocky Mountains. The continental divide traverses the state, causing snowmelt-filled title: Colorado River text: world". Over 29 major dams and hundreds of miles of canals serve to supply thirsty cities, provide irrigation water to some 4 million acres (1.6 million hectares), and meet peaking power demands in the Southwest, generating more than 12 billion kWh of hydroelectricity each year. Often called "America's Nile", the Colorado is so carefully managed – with basin reservoirs capable of holding four times the river's annual flow – that each drop of its water is used an average of 17 times in a single year. One of the earliest water projects in the Colorado River basin was the Grand title: Colorado River text: Colorado River The Colorado River is one of the principal rivers of the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico (the other being the Rio Grande). The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. and two Mexican states. Starting in the central Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the river flows generally southwest across the Colorado Plateau and through the Grand Canyon before reaching Lake Mead on the Arizona–Nevada border, where it turns south toward the international border. After entering Mexico, the Colorado approaches the mostly dry Colorado River Delta at the tip of the Gulf of California