This case arises upon the petition of the state of Arizona for leave to file in this Court her bill of complaint against the several states named as defendants and upon their returns to the order of this Court, 296 U.S. 552, 56 S.Ct. 303, directing them to show cause why the prayer of the petition should not be granted. The returns raise numerous objections to the sufficiency of the proposed bill of complaint, only two of which we find it necessary to consider. One is that the proposed bill fails to present any justiciable case or controversy within the jurisdiction of the Court. The other is that the United States, which is not named as a defendant and has not consented to be sued, is an indispensable party to any decree granting the relief prayed by the bill.
The relief sought is: (1) That the quantum of Arizona's equitable share of the water flowing in the Colorado river, subject to diversion and use, be fixed by this Court, and that the petitioner's title thereto be quieted against adverse claims of the defendant states. (2) That the state of California be barred from having or claiming any right to divert and use more than an equitable share of the water flowing in the river, to be determined by the Court, and not to exceed the limitation imposed upon California's use of such water by the Boulder Canyon Project Act, 45 Stat. 1057, (43 U.S.C.A. §§ 617-617t), and the act of the California Legislature of March 4, 1929, c. 16, Stats.Cal.1929, p. 38. (3) That it be decreed that the diversion and use by any of the defendant states of any part of the equitable share of the water decreed to Arizona pending its diversion and use by her shall not constitute a prior appropriation or confer upon the appropriating state any right in the water superior to that o Arizona. (4) That any right of the republic of Mexico to an equitable share in any increased flow of water in the Colorado river made available by works being constructed by or for California shall be supplied from California's equitable share of the water, and that neither petitioner nor the defendant states other than California shall be required to contribute to it from their equitable shares as adjudicated by the Court.
The proposed bill this, in substance, seeks a judicial apportionment among the states in the Colorado River Basin of the unappropriated water of the river, with the limitation that the share of California shall not exceed the amount to which she is limited by the Boulder Canyon Project Act and by her statute, and with the proviso that any increase in the flow of water to which the republic of Mexico may be entitled shall be supplied from the amount apportioned to California. Our consideration of the case is restricted to an examination of the facts alleged in the proposed bill of complaint and of those of which we may take judicial notice.
The Colorado river, a navigable stream, see Arizona v. California, 283 U.S. 423, 51 S.Ct. 522, 75 L.Ed. 1154, having a total length of 1,293 miles, rises in Colorado and flows through that state 245 miles, then through Utah 285 miles, then through Arizona 292 miles, then on the boundary between Arizona and Nevada 145 miles, then on the boundary between Arizona and California 235 miles, then on the boundary between Arizona and Mexico 16 miles, and then through the republic of Mexico to the Gulf of California 75 miles. For 688 miles, more than half its length, the river flows in Arizona or upon her boundary.
Two dams have been built across the Colorado river by the Secretary of the Interior, acting under authority of acts of Congress. One, Boulder Dam, 378 miles below the intersection of the river with the boundary between Arizona and Utah, creates Boulder Reservoir, extending along the bed of the river 115 miles above the dam. The other, Laguna Dam, is located 18 miles above the point where the Colorado river becomes the boundary between Arizona and Mexico. Two other dams are projected and in course of construction under contracts entered into by the Secretary of the Interior, pursuant to acts of Congress. Boulder Canyon Project Act § 1, 43 U.S.C.A. § 617; United States Session Laws 1935, 49 Stat. p. 1039, § 2. See United States v. State of Arizona, 295 U.S. 174, 55 S.Ct. 666, 79 L.Ed. 1371. Both are in that part of the river which flows between Arizona and California. One Parker Dam, is approximately 150 miles south of Boulder Dam, and the other, Imperial Dam, is 4 1/2 miles above Laguna Dam.