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.