Which of the following agreements allocated 7.5 million acre-feet of water to each basin of the Colorado River?
1. Boulder Canyon Project Act
2. Colorado River Compact
3. Mexican Water Treaty
4. Upper Colorado River Basin Compact
2. Colorado River Compact
The agreement that allocated 7.5 million acre-feet of water to each basin of the Colorado River is the Colorado River Compact.
The agreement that allocated 7.5 million acre-feet of water to each basin of the Colorado River is the Colorado River Compact. To arrive at this answer, we can study the details of each of the options provided.
1. Boulder Canyon Project Act: This act, passed in 1928, authorized the construction of the Hoover Dam and the creation of Lake Mead. While it did allocate water to the lower basin states, Arizona, California, and Nevada, it did not specifically allocate 7.5 million acre-feet of water to each basin of the Colorado River.
2. Colorado River Compact: This compact, signed in 1922 between the seven states in the Colorado River Basin (Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming), divided the water rights of the river. It allocated 7.5 million acre-feet of water to each of the upper basin states (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming) and to each of the lower basin states (Arizona, California, and Nevada). Therefore, this option is correct.
3. Mexican Water Treaty: This treaty, signed in 1944 between the United States and Mexico, allocated water rights to the Colorado River for Mexico. However, it did not allocate 7.5 million acre-feet of water to each basin of the Colorado River.
4. Upper Colorado River Basin Compact: This compact, signed in 1948, allocated water rights to the upper basin states (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming), but did not specifically allocate 7.5 million acre-feet of water to each basin of the Colorado River.
Therefore, the only option that allocated 7.5 million acre-feet of water to each basin of the Colorado River is the Colorado River Compact.