[Water_news] 1. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS - Top Items for 12/14/07

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation for DWR personnel of significant news articles and comment

 

December 14, 2007

 

1.  Top Items

 

Seven states sign Colorado River water pact - USA Today

 

Western states sign historic water pact - Associated Press

 

Colorado River water deal is reached; The Interior secretary calls it an 'agreement to share adversity.' A shortage could be declared as early as 2010 - Los Angeles Times

 

Historic Colorado River pact signed - Imperial Valley Press

 

Colo. River states OK landmark water pact; Deal will help Arizona prepare for shortages - Arizona Republic

 

7 states sign historic water agreement; Compact apportions Colorado River, aims to ease drought risk - Desert Morning News (Utah)

 

I-Team: 7 Western States Sign Historic Water Agreement - KLAS Channel 8 (Las Vegas)

 

Editorial: Water forethought - Riverside Press Enterprise

 

 

Seven states sign Colorado River water pact

USA Today – 12/14/07

By Patrick O’Driscoll, staff writer

 

DENVER — In the midst of eight years of drought, the seven states of the Colorado River Basin have agreed to new rules to share and conserve scarce water in the region without resorting to lawsuits.

 

The states — California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming — share the 1,450-mile river's water under a 1922 compact.

 

The new rules, signed Thursday by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, include guidelines for which of the states will take water reductions and for how long in the event of a shortage. The states also pledged to negotiate water differences before going to court.

 

"The bad news is that the historic drought continues … with no sign of ending," Kempthorne said. "The good news is that we have achieved remarkable victories in the basin that chart a course for the future through drought and surplus alike."

 

Emergency "triggers" in the 18-year plan could trip as soon as 2010 if the worst dry spell in a century doesn't subside, the agency that manages the river has warned.

 

"Future hydrological inflows are very uncertain," says Terry Fulp of the Bureau of Reclamation. "There could be a chance (of restrictions) if the drought continues."

The agreement, which takes effect immediately and runs through 2026, enacts rules to improve efficiency by allowing the river's two huge reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, to rise and fall in tandem.

 

The drought has shrunk both bodies to less than half of capacity. If Lake Mead's level slips 36 feet below and Lake Powell's level 22 feet below today's watermarks, rationing and other measures would kick in.

 

The pact encourages inventive efforts to conserve by giving states credits to draw 95% of the water they save now, once conditions improve.

 

Kempthorne noted one such innovation: the Drop 2 Reservoir to be built in California at Nevada's expense. The dam would store water for California's agricultural use now and credit Nevada for its needs in the next two decades.

 

"If the seven states on the Colorado River can get together and work out a deal," he said, "then surely (anyone) can."

 

Kempthorne noted a similar situation last month in the Southeast, where "a record drought" put Alabama, Florida and Georgia on the verge of a legal war over water. He met separately with the governors, who went to Washington to work out an agreement.

 

The new Colorado River Basin agreement was signed in Las Vegas at the annual meeting of the Colorado River Water Users Association.

 

The group looks after a resource that serves the nation's biggest farm producer and most populous state, California, and several of the USA's fastest-growing states. #

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-12-14-colorado-river_N.htm

 

 

Western states sign historic water pact

Associated Press – 12/14/07

By Ken Ritter, staff writer

 

LAS VEGAS—Seven Western states signed a sweeping agreement on Thursday to conserve and share scarce Colorado River water, ending a divisive battle among the thirsty rivals.

 

More than 30 million people in California, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico are affected by the historic agreement.

The 20-year plan, which took effect with Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne's signature, resolved several legal disputes among water agencies and formalized rules to cooperate during the ongoing drought gripping the region.

 

A key element of the drought plan lets the lower-basin states of California, Nevada and Arizona use the vast Lake Mead reservoir behind Hoover Dam to store water they conserve or don't need for use later.

 

For the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, that arrangement could mean storing almost 1.5 million acre-feet of conserved water in the lake, said Timothy F. Brick, the chief of the MWD board. The district is the water wholesaler to 26 cities and water districts serving some 18 million people.

 

"This landmark new plan will help California recover some of the water reliability that Mother Nature has taken away during the eight years of record drought," Brick added.

 

The plan specifies how and when agencies in each state will face reductions during drought, and set new rules allowing the reservoirs of lakes Powell and Mead "to rise and fall in tandem, thereby better sharing the risk of drought," Kempthorne said.

 

The agreements also establish rules for handling surplus water in times of plentiful runoff, and they encourage water conservation.

 

"It's easy to be gracious when you have a surplus," Kempthorne said. "It is far tougher in a time of scarcity."

 

Another agreement lets the Las Vegas-based Southern Nevada Water Authority build a reservoir just north of the U.S. border in California to capture excess water that would otherwise flow into Mexico.

 

In return for funding the project, expected to cost more than $175 million, Las Vegas will be allowed to draw up to 400,000 acre-feet of water to slake the thirst of a fast-growing region that has reached the limit of water it can draw from Lake Mead.

 

Officials say an acre-foot, or about 326,000 gallons, is about enough water to supply two southern Nevada homes for a year.  #

http://www.contracostatimes.com/search/ci_7721452?IADID=Search-www.contracostatimes.com-www.contracostatimes.com&nclick_check=1

 

 

Colorado River water deal is reached; The Interior secretary calls it an 'agreement to share adversity.' A shortage could be declared as early as 2010

Los Angeles Times – 12/14/07

By Bettina Boxall and Ashley Powers, staff writers

 

LAS VEGAS — The federal government Thursday ushered in a new era of shortage on the Colorado River, adopting a blueprint for how it will tighten the spigot on the West's most important water source.

The guidelines, more than two years in the making, come in the eighth year of the worst drought in the century-long historic record of the Colorado River, which supplies water to 25 million people and 1 million acres of farmland.

Federal water managers say a shortage could be declared as early as 2010, allowing the Department of the Interior to reduce water deliveries to Arizona and Nevada, two of the seven states that have sparred over the waterway for decades. California, which has the biggest water allocation and senior rights in the lower basin, would not be affected.

The drought has left Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the river's two mammoth reservoirs, half-empty, their receding shorelines marked by a wide band of bleached rocks that a decade ago were under water. Without some wet years, Lake Mead may never refill, federal hydrologists say.

"We have had good news and bad news," Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said in a speech before signing the document at the Colorado River Water Users Assn. meeting at Caesars Palace. The bad news, he said, is that the drought shows "no sign of ending."

Scientists also predict that climate change will worsen Western drought patterns and reduce Colorado River flows by increasing evaporation and decreasing snowfall. One study released this year warned that global warming could thrust the Southwest into a state of permanent drought by 2050.

"Runoff in five of the seven Colorado River basin states is projected to decline by more than 15% during the 21st century," Kempthorne said.

Against that backdrop, the basin states of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona and California began negotiations in 2005 on a blueprint for water shortages.

Their plans formed the basis of the document signed by Kempthorne, who called it "an agreement to share adversity" and a landmark in the tangled history of Colorado River management.

The agreement avoided a nasty and prolonged legal battle among the seven states by tinkering with river law without changing the fundamentals of the 1922 compact that divided the Colorado's flow among them.

Although California's senior rights put it in the best position of the lower basin states, the agreement benefited the state by preventing "bloody legal fights in Congress or the courts," said Jeffrey Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California.

The guidelines, which will be in effect for the next 19 years, contain three major elements:

* They set particular water-level elevations of Lake Mead as triggers for water cutbacks. The reductions will total less than 10% of the lower basin's allocation. Arizona agriculture will bear the brunt of the shortfall and Nevada a small portion of it.

"California is secure. Its entitlement is not impacted," said Bill Swan, a water rights lawyer for the Imperial Irrigation District, which gets three-fourths of the state's Colorado River allotment.

* Lake Powell, which holds water from the upper-basin states, and Lake Mead, which receives water from Powell, will be operated as one reservoir system. That is expected to make it easier to control Lake Mead's level, and thus the shortage triggers.

* States will be allowed to hold "conserved" water in Lake Mead from year to year, changing existing requirements that make them use or lose their annual allocations.

Water agencies could then pay irrigation districts to fallow farmland, keep the unused irrigation water stored in Lake Mead and draw on it later.

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California will be able to store as much as 1.5 million acre-feet in Lake Mead, nearly double the capacity of its Diamond Valley Lake Reservoir in Riverside County. That is enough water to meet annual needs for about 3 million average households.

Nevada, which has the smallest water allotment in the lower basin, plans to hold water in Lake Mead from fallow farmland along the Virgin and Muddy rivers. The Southern Nevada Water Authority also will build a small reservoir, called Drop Two, near the Mexican border to capture flows ordered by American farmers who don't use the water when it rains. That measure would decrease flows to the Colorado River's ecologically important delta, potentially sparking an outcry from Mexico.

In return for financing the reservoir, Southern Nevada will get some of the captured water. The Metropolitan Water District and Arizona may also take part in the arrangement.

Las Vegas' exploding population and growing water needs have been a driving force behind the talks. Pat Mulroy, the powerful head of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, had threatened to go to court to get more water.

Michael Cohen, a senior research associate at the Pacific Institute, called the agreement a massive step forward.

But he wasn't prepared to say the states that relied on the Colorado River have fully acknowledged a drier future.

"None of the municipal agencies are saying, 'We need to reevaluate our urban plans, our growth plans, because there's only so much water,' " he said. "It's not clear that the states are saying, 'OK, we're going to now live in this era of limits.' " #

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-colorado14dec14,1,5285759.story?coll=la-news-a_section

 

 

Historic Colorado River pact signed

Imperial Valley Press – 12/13/07

By Brianna Lusk, staff writer

 

LAS VEGAS — The anticipation in the room was palpable, John Pierre Menvielle said.

Years of dedicated hard work and compromise involving a multitude of water authorities culminated in just a few moments.

Secretary of the Interior Dirt Kempthorne signed a Record of Decision, putting to rest three years of negotiations on what seven states would do if a water shortage happens on the Colorado River.

As a director of the Imperial Irrigation District, Menvielle was one of hundreds of witnesses to a landmark moment in water history here Thursday at the Colorado River Water Users Association annual convention.

It is the most significant dealing in water history, officials have said, since the signing of the Colorado River Compact in 1922.

“It was impressive. It was a very important moment in time,” Menvielle said. “It’s good for the whole Western U.S.”

Being touted as a way to prevent future water conflicts as the nearly decade-long drought on the Colorado River continues, the Water 2025 Initiative involves seven states.

The pact outlines how the states that rely heaviest on the river, including California, Arizona and Nevada, would deal with future projected water shortages. Officials estimate the earliest shortage could come as soon as 2010.

Several years ago as the drought’s impact became increasingly evident and water wars seemed inevitable, the government tasked the states to come up with an agreement before intervening.

“The bad news is that the historic drought continues in the Colorado River Basin with no sign of ending,” Kempthorne said.

The agreement includes provisions for planning for shortages, allows for reserves to be stored in Lake Mead and Lake Powell and establishes guidelines for water conservation.

The pact, he said, has created allies from states that could have been enemies.
“This is an agreement to share adversity … sharing adversity is what good neighbors do,” Kempthorne said.

Earlier this week the Imperial Irrigation District agreed to be part of the agreement, although the vote was not unanimous.

Directors James Hanks and Mike Abatti expressed concern that too much was being given up by the district in the pact and voted against portions of the initiative.

Menvielle said what the district has gained, especially in the ability to store created surplus water, will be valuable for years to come.

“We won’t realize the importance of it. ... It could be 10, 20 years down the road … but knowing the conditions of the river, this whole thing is important for IID,” Menvielle said. #
http://www.ivpressonline.com/articles/2007/12/14/local_news/news03.txt

 

 

Colo. River states OK landmark water pact; Deal will help Arizona prepare for shortages

Arizona Republic – 12/14/07

By Shaun McKinnon, staff writer

 

LAS VEGAS - Ending years of water wars, the seven Colorado River states ratified a landmark agreement Thursday designed to protect millions of people from the effects of drought, growth and climate change.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne formally accepted the deal, which he described as the most significant event on the river since the original compact that first bound the states together in 1922.

Arizona's chief negotiator, Department of Water Resources Director Herb Guenther, said the agreement could eclipse the 1922 compact in importance to the seven states because it comes with greater understanding of the river's volatile nature.

"This is a step out of denial and into the real world," Guenther said. "It's the beginning of a new era of water management." The agreement spells out for the first time how the states and the federal government will manage the river both in times of drought and surplus. It also allows the states to manage water more creatively, loosening long-held rules and breaking down barriers among states.

Perhaps most importantly in the short term, the deal will end the threat of legal action by one or more of the states to defend their water resources. A court case could drag on for decades and cost tens of millions of dollars, leaving a judge to decide how to manage the water.

Arizona walks away with few tangible benefits but gained long-sought certainty in preparing for shortages. Arizona still gives up the most water if the river runs short, but officials now know how much water and can deploy measures to postpone the need for rationing.

Arizona also won concessions in how the states and the federal government will operate the two largest reservoirs on the river, further forestalling shortages.

"Everybody got something, and everybody had to give up something," said Pat Mulroy, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority. "The solutions don't come on one side of a line or the other . . . they're on that fragile balancing point, and we found it."

With the agreement, Nevada bought itself more time to develop alternate sources to its nearly exhausted Colorado River allocation. The deal allows the state to mix imported groundwater with its river supplies and will give Las Vegas access to extra water in exchange for building a storage reservoir at the river's end, west of Yuma.

California also won added security as it faces one of the worst water crises in years, a nasty confluence of drought and a judge's ruling in an endangered-species case. Under the plan, the state can store water in Lake Mead for later use, giving users another cushion as they work on broader issues.

"The additional storage is equivalent to building a reservoir nearly twice the size of Diamond Valley Lake," said Timothy Brick, chairman of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Diamond Valley is the district's largest reservoir.

Kempthorne said the agreement will stand as an example for other states and even other countries. Earlier this fall, the secretary brokered a deal among drought-stricken Florida, Georgia and Alabama and told those states to study what has happened on the Colorado River.

"If the seven states in the Colorado River Basin can get together and work out a deal, then surely anybody can," Kempthorne said Thursday, drawing loud laughter from the roomful of river users.

Kempthorne and the states signed the agreement at the opening session of the Colorado River Water Users Association conference. The gathering has been the site in recent years of some of the talks that produce the agreement.

Some loose ends remain. The upper-river states want to develop more of their unused allocations but still fear provisions in the law that give the lower-river states high priority over the river's flow.

Colorado officials have begun work on legislation to address what happens if the lower-river states exercise their rights to demand full allotments in times of severe drought.

The agreement also does not include Mexico, which holds the rights to 1.5 million acre-feet of water each year. If shortages occur, the federal government will likely find itself negotiating with Mexican officials about whether that country will demand its full share.

Some environmental groups say the plan ignores the long-term health of the river and focuses too narrowly on building more water supplies instead of better conserving existing resources.

The policy study group Western Progress urged river leaders to find more sustainable solutions that will prepare the states for bigger changes brought on by shifting climate.

Kempthorne acknowledged the effects of a warming planet and said the river guidelines will help protect water from those sources.

"The simple fact is the Earth is warming," he said. "We have to figure out how this is going to affect our water supplies. We have to come up with an adaptive management approach that will allow us to be good stewards." #

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/1214river-plan1214.html

 

 

7 states sign historic water agreement; Compact apportions Colorado River, aims to ease drought risk

Desert Morning News (Utah) – 12/14/07

By Joe Bauman, staff writer

 

An agreement signed Thursday to help the seven Colorado River states cope with drought is historic, says the director of the Upper Colorado River Commission.

 

Don Ostler, whose four-state commission is based in Salt Lake City, was present in Las Vegas to see the agreement signed by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and representatives of all states in the Colorado River Compact. The compact apportions water among the seven states using the river: Utah, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Wyoming.

 

"It's without a doubt the most significant agreement on the Colorado River since the original agreement (the Colorado River Compact) was signed ... in 1922," Ostler said.

 

Adjustments have been made to the agreement in the past 85 years, but they weren't as significant as this, he said. "So yes, it's been a historic, exciting" time.

 

According to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the agreement provides that:

 

• Specific water levels of Lake Mead, which is in Nevada and Arizona, will be used to determine when a shortage is declared for the Lower Basin states — Arizona, California and Nevada. By shortage, the agreement means less than 7.5 million acre-feet available for those states.

 

• Reservoir conditions in Lake Powell (Utah and Arizona) and Lake Mead will determine the operation of the two reservoirs. Those operations, according to a press release, are intended to "minimize shortages in the Lower Basin and avoid the risk of water delivery curtailments in the Upper Basin."

 

• A mechanism will be set up to encourage and account for augmenting and conserving water supplies in Lake Mead to "minimize the likelihood and severity of potential future water shortages and to provide additional flexibility to meet water use needs, particularly under low reservoir conditions."

 

• Interim surplus guidelines established in 2001 are "modified and extended through 2026."

 

In prepared comments released by the Interior Department, Kempthorne said drought conditions in America and around the world threaten to worsen. "Here in the West, for example, runoff in five of the seven Colorado River Basin states is projected to decline by more than 15 percent during the 21st century."

 

If the region becomes warmer and evaporation increases, "we could face a situation in which the amount of precipitation we are receiving today produces significantly less runoff in the future."

 

The department secretary said he was impressed by the conservation measures, such as the agreement that allows water users to obtain future credit for conserving water and leaving it in Lake Mead. "It also sets up a framework to allow cities to contract with willing farmers to temporarily fallow fields in dry years while respecting the basin's agricultural heritage," he said.

 

Perhaps most important, Kempthorne added, the agreement among the seven states has a "key provision" that future controversies surrounding Colorado River resources will be handled among the states through consultation and negotiation, before any states resort to litigation.

 

He added that the department is working with Mexico to resolve issues concerning Colorado River water that crosses into Mexico. Under the compact, the republic to the south is guaranteed water from the system.

 

Ostler said that without the agreement, water users faced a high possibility that lawsuits would involve any or all of the compact states. The resulting "legal conflict" could drag on for years, and the fight would not only be costly but would tie up development plans.

 

Under the new arrangement, operations of Lake Mead and Lake Powell will be coordinated so that both should rise and fall together to an extent, "while still preserving the Upper Basin's allotment of water."

 

Ostler characterized the agreement as giving to each state and taking a bit from each state. The most important part is that it heads off "this legal conflict that was looming."

 

The water agreement protects the Upper Basin also, he said. For example, if Lake Mead is high and Lake Powell low, Powell could reduce its releases. "In the past, the releases would just be set and it would happen," he said.

 

Ostler thinks the waters of the United States would not suffer environmental damage because of the new operations. He added, "I think the next step ... would be to develop plans with the government of Mexico" for a new agreement there. #

http://deseretnews.com/article/content/mobile/0,5223,695235961,00.html

 

 

I-Team: 7 Western States Sign Historic Water Agreement

KLAS Channel 8 (Las Vegas) – 12/13/07

By Mark Sayre, Investigative Reporter

 

Thursday was the day that has been nearly a decade in the making. Here in Las Vegas -- seven western states signed an historic agreement governing the use of water from the Colorado River.

 

This is a case where every state gives up something -- but every state also gets something.

 

Clark County draws 90-percent of its water from Lake Mead. And while Nevada could actually give up some supply under the worst-case drought scenario, it also gains a valuable water banking agreement.

 

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne held up the signed agreement and representatives of the seven states got a standing ovation.

 

 The deal adopts four key elements for managing the Colorado River.

 

It establishes rules for both shortage years and surplus years, encourages new conservation, and will ensure lakes Mead and Powell rise and fall in tandem to better share the drought risk among the states.

 

"This is the most important agreement among the seven basin states since the original 1922 compact act which was an extraordinary achievement. It was not easy reaching this day," said Secretary Kempthorne.

 

Right now -- Lake Mead is just 37-feet short of the first official "shortage" level that is addressed under the agreement. During severe conditions, Nevada could give up some of its Lake Mead allotment but would then be allowed to recoup that, and more, by drawing on a water "banking" deal with Arizona.

 

The head of Arizona's water resources department says it is good for both states. "It's challenging," said Herb Guenther.

 

"Nevada is challenged because they don't really have the aquifers to store that kind of water and then recover it. So we have plentiful aquifers, we have room in those aquifers, and there is surplus water available, so we are able to work with Nevada to accommodate them. They pay us to bank the water and recover the water."

 

California earlier stopped using more than its allotted share of river water. But now, it will be allowed to store surplus water in Lake Mead over time rather than the current "use it or lose it" policy.

 

"The significance of us being able to store a million and a half acre feet in Lake Mead is immense. That's twice as big as our largest reservoir, and that's going to give us a lot of flexibility," said Timothy Brick, of California's Metropolitan Water District.

For all states, the new agreement means water "certainty" in the years ahead as mother nature delivers an uncertain water supply to the Colorado River.

 

Shari Buck of Southern Nevada Water Authority said, "It just underlies the importance of conservation, of taking care of it. It is not an infinite resource."

 

Water managers say Lake Mead could reach the first drought stage as soon as 2009. At this point, there is no end in sight to the ongoing drought in the west nor any real idea how long it could last.

 

The terms of this agreement took effect just as soon as the Interior Secretary signed the documents Thursday at Caesars Palace. #

http://www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=7495563&nav=168XDWn7

 

 

Editorial: Water forethought

Riverside Press Enterprise – 12/14/07

 

Eighty-five years makes this difference in water policy: In 1922, states along the Colorado River signed a landmark pact outlining how much river water each would receive. But the new multistate deal signed this week details how the states will allocate water shortages from drought.

 

The agreement offers yet one more signal that California will need to alter traditional water practices and planning. California will need new projects to capture more storm runoff and add water storage, but the state can significantly improve its water outlook just by increasing conservation and making more efficient use of available water.

 

The Colorado River agreement, signed by Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne on Thursday, gives states a predictable process for handling shortages in river water, instead of resorting to costly court battles. California's yearly allotment of 4.4 million acre-feet of water would not see reductions until Lake Mead's water levels fall to 16 percent of capacity, for example. The lake now is slightly less than half-full, thanks to eight years of drought along the river. An acre-foot is about the amount of water a family of four uses annually.

 

But California has traditionally used more than its share of water from the river, because other states did not take their full allotments. Now California and other states are planning for the river not providing the amounts states have rights to.

 

Lowered flow from the Colorado River is hardly the only water challenge California faces. The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, which supplies water to two-thirds of the state's population and irrigates 3 million acres of agriculture, is nearing environmental collapse. Already, a court order in September slashed exports from the delta by as much as 37 percent. Preserving the delta may well mean sending less water from the estuary to the rest of the state in the future.

 

Meeting the demands of rapid population growth with less water will require a far more careful use of this limited resource. The 2005 state water plan estimates more efficient urban water use could free up as much as 3.1 million acre-feet a year, more than three times the amount the plan estimates would come from new dams.

 

Landscaping, for example, provides great potential for water savings. About 50 percent to 70 percent of domestic water use now goes to lawns. Smart sprinkler systems that adjust watering to weather conditions can cut water use, as can landscaping with vegetation that requires less water. Greater use of water-efficient home appliances can also help, as can fixing leaky faucets and turning sprinklers off during rainy weather.

 

But reusing water can also stretch supplies. Irrigating lawns, playing fields, golf courses and public landscaping with recycled water gets double use from existing water. Many local water agencies already have such programs under way.

 

And new water projects that capture more storm runoff, and store extra water during wet years to use during drought, are absolutely necessary.

 

Such steps require discarding old habits and making new investments. California cannot escape climate conditions that create droughts, but it can develop a strategy for thriving even during dry spells.  #

http://www.pe.com/localnews/opinion/editorials/stories/PE_OpEd_Opinion_D_op_14_ed_coloriver1.23f08d3.html

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