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  • From: Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>
  • To: Homestead <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Homestead] Water war
  • Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2007 08:33:26 -0500

So much bureaucracy occurs in the background. This new Colorado River water use agreement has been cooking for some time. It can only become more adversarial as that part of the world adds ever more population.

There is plenty of water; it's the people who are in the wrong places.

Ariz. fights changes in Colo. River plan

Shaun McKinnon
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 4, 2007 12:00 AM

Arizona balked Wednesday at proposed changes to a Colorado River drought plan and appealed to the federal government to settle the dispute or delay approval of the plan.

In a letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and the other six states that take water from the Colorado River, Arizona officials said attempts to rewrite an agreement reached earlier this year put Arizona's share of the river at an unacceptable risk.

"We worked hard to try to put together this agreement, and the only thing Arizona asked is that it did not harm Arizona water users," said Herb Guenther, director of the state Department of Water Resources.

At issue is whether a new system of managing reservoirs on the river would threaten the portion of Arizona's allotment that serves Phoenix and Tucson. Arizona argues that changes sought by states on the upper river could deprive Arizona of water even when storage levels in one reservoir were high.

The request for federal mediation could upset an already-tenuous peace among the seven states, which negotiated for more than two years over how to manage the river in times of drought.

The states' version was undergoing a final review, and Kempthorne was expected to approve it in December.

The federal government wanted the plan in place to avoid protracted legal battles if drought or shifting climate continued to shrink the river's flow.

Growing demand for water among the nearly 30 million people who rely on the Colorado River has also increased tension.

Full story at:

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1004river-arizona1004.html



  • [Homestead] Water war, Gene GeRue, 10/04/2007

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