Posted on 01/07/2006 8:52:09 PM PST by george76
Compromise: The accord would divvy up the basin's water during dry years
Representatives of the seven Colorado River Basin states announced Friday they have reached a tentative agreement about how the river will be managed during water shortages.
The deal culminates a year of sometimes stormy negotiations between upper basin states Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico, plus California, Arizona and Nevada in the lower basin over how the river's precious resource should be shared.
The stakes are enormous.
Interior Secretary Gale Norton late in 2004 gave the seven basin states until February to submit a joint proposal for an ongoing federal environmental-impact study that will determine shortage criteria for the river.
Had they failed to do so, Norton would have imposed her own operating plan, which likely would have sparked a legal war between the upper and lower basins.
Legal disputes would cost millions of dollars to settle and potentially stall future water projects, such as the proposed Lake Powell pipeline, which will allow Utah to tap Colorado River water for the first time in a major way.
Water officials cautioned that Friday's agreement is not yet official.
Modify and coordinate the operation of the Colorado River's two major reservoirs - Lake Powell in the upper basin and Lake Mead in the lower basin - in order to ensure that neither suffers at the expense of the other.
When Powell's water level is up and Mead's is low, upper basin officials will have the discretion to release additional water to the lower basin, beyond the yearly 8.23 million acre-feet they are committed to provide.
Conversely, lower basin users will accept less than the 8.23 if Mead is up and Powell is faltering.
(Excerpt) Read more at sltrib.com ...
So, what are the details?
Other than above, here are a few other details.
They say that the specifics are "under wraps" for now.
"the proposed Lake Powell pipeline, which will allow Utah to tap Colorado River water for the first time in a major way."
"Specifics of the pact were also kept under wraps..."
"Not everything is settled. No agreement was reached on how to make Friday's deal binding."
"Under the rules of the 1922 Colorado River Compact, the lower basin can still demand additional upper basin water beyond what the new agreement calls for."
"In the West, water flows uphill towards money."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.