1914

RIVER AND HARBOR AND FLOOD CONTROL ACTS OF 1966

[Extracts from] An act authorizing the construction, repair, and preservation of certain public works on rivers and harbors for navigation, flood control, and for other purposes. (Act of November 7, 1966, Public Law 89-789, 80 Stat. 1405)

Sec. 107. [Consent to Arkansas River Basin Compact, States of Kansas and Oklahoma.]—(a) The consent of Congress is hereby given to the compact, signed by the compact representatives for the States of Kansas and Oklahoma on the 31st day of March 1965, at Wichita, Kansas, and thereafter ratified by the legislature of each of the States aforesaid, which compact is as follows:

"ARKANSAS RIVER BASIN COMPACT, KANSAS-OKLAHOMA

"The state of Kansas and the state of Oklahoma, acting through their duly authorized compact representatives, Robert L. Smith and Warden L. Noe, for the state of Kansas, and Geo. R. Benz and Frank Raab, for the state of Oklahoma, after negotiations participated in by Trigg Twichell, appointed by the president as the representative of the United States of America, and in accordance with the consent to such negotiations granted by an act of Congress of the United States of America, approved August 11, 1955 (Public Law 340, 84th congress, 1st session), have agreed as follows respecting the waters of the Arkansas river and its tributaries:

"ARTICLE I

"The major purposes of this compact are: A. To promote interstate comity between the states of Kansas and Oklahoma;

"B. To divide and apportion equitably between the states of Kansas and Oklahoma the waters of the Arkansas river basin and to promote the orderly development thereof;

"C. To provide an agency for administering the water apportionment agreed to herein;

"D. To encourage the maintenance of an active pollution-abatement program in each of the two states and to seek the further reduction of both natural and man-made pollution in the waters of the Arkansas river basin.

"ARTICLE II

"As used in this compact: A. The term 'state' shall mean either state signatory hereto and shall be construed to include any person or persons, entity or agency of either state who, by reason of official responsibility or by designation of the governor of that state, is acting as an official representative of that state;

ARKANSAS RIVER COMPACT (KANS.-OKLA.)

1915

"B. The term 'Kansas-Oklahoma Arkansas river commission' or the term 'commission' means the agency created by this compact for the administration thereof;

"C. The term 'Arkansas river' means that portion of the Arkansas river from a point immediately below the confluence of the Arkansas and Little Arkansas rivers in the vicinity of Wichita, Kansas, to a point immediately below the confluence of the Arkansas river with the Grand-Neosho river near Muskogee, Oklahoma;

"D. The term 'Arkansas river basin' means all of the drainage basin of the Arkansas river as delimited above, including all tributaries which empty into it between the upstream and downstream limits;

"E. The term 'waters of the Arkansas river and its tributaries' means the waters originating in the Arkansas river basin;

"F. The term 'conservation storage capacity' means that portion of the active storage capacity of reservoirs, including multipurpose reservoirs, with a conservation storage capacity in excess of 100 acre-feet, available for the storage of water for subsequent use, but it excludes any portion of the storage capacity allocated to flood and sediment control and inactive storage capacity allocated to other uses;

"G. The term 'new conservation storage capacity' means conservation storage capacity for which construction is initiated after July 1, 1963, and storage capacity not presently allocated for conservation storage which is converted to conservation storage capacity after July 1, 1963, in excess of the quantities of declared conservation storage capacity as set forth in the storage table attached to and made a part of the minutes of the twenty-fourth meeting of the compact committee dated September 1, 1964, and as filed and identified to this compact in the offices of the secretaries of state of the respective states;

"H. The term 'pollution' means contamination or other alterations of the physical, chemical, biological or radiological properties of water or the discharge of any liquid, gaseous, or solid substances into any waters which creates or is likely to result in a nuisance, or which renders or is likely to render the waters into which it is discharged harmful, detrimental or injurious to public health, safety, or welfare or which is harmful, detrimental or injurious to beneficial uses of the water.

"ARTICLE III

"The physical and other conditions peculiar to the Arkansas river basin constitute the basis for this compact, and neither of the states hereby, nor the congress of the United States by its consent hereto, concedes that this compact establishes any general principle with respect to any other inter

state stream.

'ARTICLE IV

"A. For the purpose of apportionment of water between the two states, the Arkansas river basin is hereby divided into major topographic sub

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ARKANSAS RIVER COMPACT (KANS.-OKLA.)

basins as follows: (1) The Grand-Neosho river subbasin; (2) the Verdigris river subbasin; (3) the Salt Fork river subbasin; (4) the Cimarron river subbasin; and (5) the mainstem Arkansas river subbasin which shall consist of the Arkansas river basin, excepting the Grand-Neosho river, Verdigris river, Salt Fork river, and Cimarron river subbasins.

"B. The two states recognize that portions of other states not signatory to this compact lie within the drainage area of the Arkansas river basin as herein defined. The water apportionments provided for in this compact are not intended to affect nor do they affect the rights of such other states in and to the use of the waters of the basin.

"ARTICLE V

"The state of Kansas shall have free and unrestricted use of the waters of the Arkansas river basin within Kansas subject to the provisions of this compact and to the limitations set forth below:

"A. New conservation storage capacity in the Grand-Neosho river subbasin within the state of Kansas shall not exceed 650,000 acre-feet plus an additional capacity equal to the new conservation storage in said drainage basin in Oklahoma excepting storage on Spavinaw creek;

"B. New conservation storage capacity in the Verdigris river subbasin within the state of Kansas shall not exceed 300,000 acre-feet plus an additional capacity equal to the new conservation storage in said drainage basin in Oklahoma, excepting navigation capacity allocated in Oologah reservoir;

"C. New conservation storage capacity in the mainstem Arkansas river subbasin within the state of Kansas shall not exceed 600,000 acre-feet plus an additional capacity equal to the new conservation storage in said drainage basin in Oklahoma;

"D. New conservation storage capacity in the Salt Fork river subbasin within the state of Kansas shall not exceed 300,000 acre-feet plus an additional capacity equal to the new conservation storage in said drainage basin in Oklahoma;

"E. New conservation storage capacity in the Cimarron river subbasin within the state of Kansas shall not exceed 5,000 acre-feet, provided that new conservation storage capacity in excess of that amount may be constructed if specific project plans have first been submitted to and have received the approval of the commission.

"ARTICLE VI

"The state of Oklahoma shall have free and unrestricted use of the waters of the Arkansas river basin within Oklahoma subject to the provisions of this compact and to the limitations set forth below:

"New conservation storage capacity in the Cimarron river subbasin within the state of Oklahoma shall not exceed 5,000 acre-feet provided that new conservation storage capacity in excess of that amount may be constructed if specific project plans have first been submitted to and have received the approval of the commission.

ARKANSAS RIVER COMPACT (KANS.-OKLA.)

"ARTICLE VII

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"A. The commission shall determine the conditions under which one state may construct and operate for its needs new conservation storage capacity in the other state. The construction or utilization of new conservation storage capacity by one state in the other state shall entitle the state whose storage potential is reduced by such construction to construct an equal amount of new conservation storage in a subbasin agreeable to the commission.

"B. New conservation storage capacity constructed by the United States or any of its agencies, instrumentalities or wards, or by a state, political subdivision thereof, or any person or persons shall be charged against the state in which the use is made.

"C. Each state has the unrestricted right to replace within the same subbasin, any conservation storage capacity made unusable by any cause.

"D. In the event reallocation of storage capacity in the Arkansas river basin in Oklahoma should result in the reduction of that state's new conservation storage capacity, such reallocation shall not reduce the total new conservation storage capacities available to Kansas under Article V; provided that a subsequent reinstatement of such storage capacity shall not be charged as an increase in Oklahoma's new conservation storage capacity.

"ARTICLE VIII

"A. In the event of importation of water to a major subbasin of the Arkansas river basin from another river basin, or from another major subbasin within the same state, the state making the importation shall have exclusive use of such imported waters.

"B. In the event of exportation of water from a major subbasin for use in another major subbasin or for use outside the Arkansas river basin within the same state, the limitations of Articles V and VI on new conservation capacity shall apply against the subbasin from which the exportation is made in the amount of the storage capacity actually used for that purpose within the exporting subbasin or, in the event of direct diversion of water without storage, on the basis of five acre-feet of conservation storage capacity for each acre-foot of water on the average so diverted annually.

"C. Any reservoir storage capacity which is required for the control and utilization of imported waters shall not be accounted as new conservation storage.

"D. Should a transbasin diversion of water of the Arkansas river basin be made in one state for the use and benefit of the other state or both states, the commission shall determine a proper accounting of new conservation storage capacities in each state in accordance with the above principles and with the project uses to be made in that state.

"ARTICLE IX

"The states of Kansas and Oklahoma mutually agree to: A. The principle of individual state effort to abate man-made pollution within each

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state's respective borders, and the continuing support of both states in an active pollution-abatement program;

"B. The cooperation of the appropriate state agencies in Kansas and Oklahoma to investigate and abate sources of alleged interstate pollution within the Arkansas river basin whenever such matters are called to their attention by the commission;

"C. Enter into joint programs for the identification and control of sources of natural pollution within the Arkansas river basin which the commission finds are of interstate significance;

"D. The principle that neither state may require the other to provide water for the purpose of water-quality control as a substitute for adequate waste treatment;

"E. Utilize the provisions of the federal water pollution control act in the resolution of any pollution problems which cannot be resolved within the provisions of this compact.

"ARTICLE X

"A. There is hereby created an interstate administrative agency to be known as the 'Kansas-Oklahoma Arkansas river commission.' The commission shall be composed of three commissioners representing each of the states of Kansas and Oklahoma who shall be appointed by the governors of the respective states and, if designated by the president, one commissioner representing the United States. The president is hereby requested to designate a commissioner and an alternate representing the United States. The federal commissioner, if one be designated, shall be the presiding officer of the commission, but shall not have the right to vote in any of the deliberations of the commission.

"B. One Kansas commissioner shall be the state official who now or hereafter shall be responsible for administering water law in the state; the other two commissioners shall reside in the Arkansas river basin in Kansas and shall be appointed to four-year staggered terms.

"C. One Oklahoma commissioner shall be the state official who now or hereafter shall be responsible for administering water law in the state; the other two commissioners shall reside in the Arkansas river basin in Oklahoma and shall be appointed to four-year staggered terms.

"D. A majority of the commissioners of each state and the commissioner or his alternate representing the United States, if so designated, must be present to constitute a quorum. In taking any commission action, each signatory state shall have a single vote representing the majority opinion of the commissioners of that state.

"E. The salaries and personal expenses of each commissioner shall be paid by the government which he represents. All other expenses which are incurred by the commission incident to the administration of this compact shall be borne equally by the two states and shall be paid by the commission out of the 'Kansas-Oklahoma Arkansas river commission fund.' Such fund shall be initiated and maintained by equal payments of each state into the