Early on, the word ‘conservation’ meant the efficient use of natural resources, not the preservation of natural environment. Nationalist ideas of ‘reclaiming’ the frontier and the subsequent economic drive for large-scale projects during and after the Great Depression created an atmosphere that offered little opposition to these projects. Early Policy The extensive reclamation of the arid western desert has been a long battle against the forces of nature. Unfortunately for all those involved in this development, the battle against nature was not the only fight to be won. Political battles occurred during every step of development, with different special interests vying to secure the most water possible for their country, state, region, or individual farm. These were not unforeseen problems. Powell, after extensive travel in the region, wrote a document titled, A Report on the Lands of the Arid Region of the United States, published in 1876. Presciently, Powell predicted future problems with the western expansion being encouraged by the U.S Government. His argument that “in the west, where the one thing that mattered was water, states should logically be formed around watersheds…To divide the west any other way was to sow the future with rivalries jealousies, and bitter squabbles whose fruits would contribute solely to the nourishment of lawyers” was insightful. The Colorado River has turned into one of the most regulated and litigated rivers in the world. From the outset, the federal government was involved, and as infrastructure developed in the early 20th century, a scramble ensued to utilize as much water as possible. The ‘prior use’ doctrine practiced by most states caused endless conflict and settled nothing definitively until the Colorado River Compact was drawn up in 1922. The Upper and Lower Basins were defined, and each was allotted 7.5 Million Acre Feet (MAF) with an
additional 1 MAF allowed for the use in Lower Basin development. This initial agreement set the stage for continued legal debate and reallocation between states for years to come. The only party completely ignored during this initial process was Mexico. By the time they arrived at the bargaining table, America’s development and use of Colorado River water was in full swing. The prospect of allocating enough water for Mexico to adequately supply the Mexicali Valley was bleak. In an attempt to fight this inequality, the Mexican government furiously encouraged agricultural land and water infrastructure growth in an attempt to augment its ‘prior-use’ water claims before the completion of the Hoover Dam. In 1944, despite protest from the basin states, the federal government proposed a treaty guaranteeing Mexico 1.5 MAF annually, twice what they had been using prior to the Hoover Dam construction, but far less than projections of future development needs. Case Study: the Imperial Valley The Imperial Valley was once an arm of the Gulf of California, and lay at the mouth of the Colorado River, receiving a build-up of silt as the river flattened, nearing its delta. This geological process shaped the future of the region by eventually shifting the Colorado River eastward to lower ground, and leaving a thick bed of mineral-rich soil behind. Additionally, much of the Imperial Valley was left below sea level, allowing for gravity fed irrigation on a large scale. The potential of the Imperial Valley did not go unnoticed as development of the American West began in earnest in the late 19th century. The powerful and heavily funded California Development Company (CDC) took advantage of the initially proposed irrigation project using the dry channel of the Alamo River, and agriculture in the region was in full swing by the turn of 21