This is an incomplete collection of documents by and about the Republican River Compact Administration and the Republican River Compact 2010. In response to an extended drought during the 1930s, interrupted by a devastating flood in 1935, and the need to agree to an apportionment before federal development in the basin could be undertaken, Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska began negotiations for a compact in 1940 to allocate the waters of the Republican River Basin above the junction of the Republican and Smoky Hill Rivers in Kansas. Commissioners were appointed by the Governors of the three States. After eight meetings, the commissioners signed a proposed compact in March 1941. The proposed compact was ratified by the legislatures of the three States and consented to by Congress, but President Roosevelt vetoed the bill approving the compact in 1942 because of objections by federal agencies. Congress then passed, and President Roosevelt approved, a bill authorizing further compact negotiations with a federal representative to be involved. A federal representative was appointed to participate in the negotiations, and, with limited changes to satisfy the federal government that did not change the allocations of water to the three States, a second Republican River Compact was signed by the commissioners on December 31, 1942, ratified by the state legislatures and approved by Congress and the President in 1943.

Brief review of the compact and noncompliance by both Nebraska and Colorado. Includes map of Republican River Basin.

The Basin is all the area in Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska, which is naturally drained by the Republican River and its tributaries, to its junction with the Smoky Hill River in Kansas.