GROUPS SUE TO KEEP WATER IN COLORADO NATIONAL PARK
Environmentalists filed suit to block the federal government’s relinquishment of senior water rights in Colorado’s Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Rocky Mountain News; 9/8 <http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_2238393,00.html>
CRITICS SAY COLORADO WATER MEASURE TOO VAGUE
Colorado’s Referendum A would authorize as much as $2 billion for water projects, but the projects wouldn’t be chosen unless the measure passes, and critics worry it would be a blank check to for Front Range cities to grab Western Slope water. Denver Rocky Mountain News; Sept. 15 <http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/election/article/0,1299,DRMN_36_2259683,00.html>
Full text of the referendum and analysis: <http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/lcsstaff/balpage.htm>http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/lcsstaff/balpage.htm>
(click on blue book analysis) The crux of the debate over Colorado’s $2 billion water referendum is that the state lets much of its water flow beyond its borders, but critics doubt that much is really available and say it would be far from where it’s needed. Denver Rocky Mountain News; Sept. 25 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=11102>
COLORADO TRIBE GETS CONTRACT TO START WORK ON ALP
A Ute Mountain Ute tribal company received a $2.3 million contract to start work on a key part of western Colorado’s Animas-La Plata water project, although the huge project’s estimated cost has nearly doubled. Farmington Daily Times; Sept. 10 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=10823>
AGENCY TO INVESTIGATE COST OF COLORADO WATER PROJECT
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) has begun an internal investigation into projected cost overruns of nearly 50 percent on Colorado’s Animas-La Plata Project, with one congressman suggesting criminal behavior. Durango Herald; Sept. 25 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=11103>
COLORADO PROJECT DEPENDS ON HOW MUCH COMMUNITIES WILL PAY FOR WATER –
The cost of Colorado’s proposed “Big Straw,” which would pump Colorado River water back over the Continental Divide, still isn’t known but is bound to be high. Denver Rocky Mountain News; Sept. 8 <http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_2241185,00.html> <http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_2241186,00.html>
UPPER COLORADO RIVER RECOVERY PROGRAM UPDATE
A ten-year contract has been finalized between the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Reclamation (BOR) and the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) for 10,825 af of stored water in Ruedi Reservoir to augment instream flows in the 15-mile critical habitat reach of the Colorado River. Reclamation will be credited about $70/af/y as its contribution to the Recovery Program ($735,000 per year plus interest) while the Recovery Program will pay the annual O&M cost associated with providing this water, currently about $62,000 annually. Flow targets for the 15-mile reach were bumped up from 250 cfs (drought conditions) to 450 cfs due to better stream flow conditions, then to 810 cfs and as the summer progressed to 1240 cfs as the rains improved river conditions. 27,579 af was available for late summer augmentation from a combination of releases from Ruedi, Wolford Mtn., Green Mountain and Williams Fork reservoirs for 2003. Grand Valley water users (HUP) pool was also made available and was released for the municipal recreation contract.
FISH LADDER FOR GRAND VALLEY DIVERSION
A $4.5 million contract has been let by U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to construct a concrete-lined passage facility for endangered and other fish at the Grand Valley Project Diversion Dam on the Colorado River in Debeque Canyon. The fish passage will give the endangered Colorado pikeminnow, razorback sucker, and bonytail access to critical habitat that has been blocked since the 14-foot-high diversion dam was completed in 1917. Fish passages are already in place at the Redlands Diversion Dam on the Gunnison River and the Grand Valley Irrigation Company Diversion Dam on the Colorado River. (From BOR press release)
SANTA FE TO SELL WATER
Santa Fe officials’ decision to accommodate the Bureau of Reclamation’s request to sell city water from the San Juan River to save the silvery minnow may be the first volley in a vicious water war. Farmington Daily Times; Aug. 31 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=10636>
SENATE WANTS TO DENY MINNOW WATER
The Senate has passed a FY’04 energy and water spending bill containing a rider, sponsored by New Mexico’s two senators, that overturns a court order to use limited amounts of water allocated to municipalities and irrigators to help keep the wild population of the Rio Grande silvery minnow from going extinct, says the Albuquerque Tribune, AP 9/17. The water comes from a federal Colorado River watershed diversion and New Mexico conservationists, including the Endangered Species Coalition, Defenders of Wildlife and Alliance for Rio Grande Heritage say “the rider could severely hamper efforts to come to a made-in-New Mexico solution.”
NEW MEXICO SENATORS’ WATER AMENDMENT WOULD MISFIRE BADLY
New Mexico Sens. Pete Domenici and Jeff Bingaman say their amendment would prevent dam releases solely for endangered species, but it would also let a list of polluters and water-wasting industries off the regulatory hook. Santa Fe New Mexican; 9/22 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=11040>
NEW MEXICO MINNOW LIKELY TO LOSE IN FEDERAL WATER FIGHT
New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici’s rider to exempt Albuquerque from providing water for the endangered silvery minnow is expected to stay in a federal spending bill, since he’s the lead senator on the conference committee. Albuquerque Tribune; Oct. 2 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=11220>
NEW MEXICO DROUGHT DEMANDS TOUGH MEASURES
Warnings that New Mexico’s drought may last decades demands better conservation. Farmington Daily Times; Sept. 24 <http://www.daily-times.com/artman/publish/Editorial.shtml>
PHELPS DODGE’S EXCESSIVE WATER USAGE PLAN CHALLENGED
The Gila Resources Information Project (GRIP), an environmental group, has filed a protest with New Mexico challenging a plan proposed by Phelps Dodge to combine polluted water from its Chino Mine with groundwater to meet water-quality standards. The group’s appeal challenges a mine close-out plan approved by the New Mexico Environment Department, which would allow the company to use nearly 9,000 acre-feet of ground water a year to dilute polluted water at the site once mining stops. Given the state’s need for water and persistent drought conditions, the plan should be nullified immediately, according to GRIP. <http://www.santafenewmexican.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=31780&SectionID=2&SubSectionID=&S=1>
WYOMING ATTORNEY GENERAL UPHOLDS INSTREAM FLOWS
Wyoming’s attorney general has issued an opinion that wildlife officials’ proposal to protect trout habitat with minimum instream flows is legal. Billings Gazette (AP); Sept. 14 <http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2003/09/14/build/wyoming/35-instream.inc>
SALT LAKE AREA NEEDS EXCEPTIONAL SNOWPACK THIS YEAR
Salt Lake City’s watershed received about 30 percent less precipitation than average last year, and even a normal snowpack this winter won’t be enough to break the drought. Salt Lake Tribune; Oct. 1 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=11194>
‘PAPER WATER’ LEAVES UTAH COMMUNITY HIGH AND DRY
Five years of drought have left some Summit County developments without water and facing the effects of over-commitment of water rights nearly 20 years ago. Salt Lake Tribune; Sept. 28 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=11143>
UTAH PROPOSES THE UNTHINKABLE: TAKING AWAY WATER RIGHTS
At least two Utah aquifers, including Salt Lake County’s, are being drained faster than they can be replenished, and state officials want the authority to take away water rights from junior users. Salt Lake Tribune; Sept. 18 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=10965>
UTAH EYES $354 MILLION PIPELINE TO WATER FAST-GROWING ST. GEORGE
Utah officials unveiled a controversial plan that would build a 122-mile pipeline to carry water from Lake Powell to St. George. Fast-growing St. George sits over a limited aquifer with no river to feed it, and as demand for water rises, the cost of a pipeline from Lake Powell has gone up by two-thirds and a battle over water rights looms. Deseret News; 9/17 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=10947> <http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Sep/09192003/utah/93736.asp>
SALT LAKE TRIES TO KEEP WATER SOURCES SAFE FROM RECREATIONISTS
Salt Lake City officials are launching a public relations campaign and posting no-swimming signs in four heavily visited canyons that supply about half the city’s drinking water. Salt Lake Tribune; Sept. 24 <http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Sep/09242003/utah/95285.asp>
STATE ENGINEER SAYS UTAH HAS PLENTY OF WATER BUT IT IS NOT CHEAP
Utah has enough water to serve several times its current population but the cost of providing that water will run into billions of dollars. Deseret Morning News; Sept. 21 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=11013>
ARIZONA TRIBE CHALLENGES COAL COMPANY’S WATER USE
The Hopi tribe says a coal company is depleting the tribe’s groundwater, setting up a possible lawsuit that could lead to the tribe asserting their seniority rights to water and controlling use of that water in the future. Arizona Republic; Sept. 21 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=11030>
ARIZONA UTILITY MINES GROUND WATER TO MEET DEMAND
Continued drought and rising demand have forced the Salt River Project, Phoenix’s main water utility, to pump nearly 100 billion gallons of ground water this year, doubling the rate at which the amount of water taken out exceeds the aquifer’s recharge. Arizona Republic; Sept. 26 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=11125>
RENZI’S RIDER WOULD KILL RIVER TO AID CORPORATIONS & DEVELOPERS
In a letter sent to Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ), the Center for Biological Diversity details Renzi’s lack of candor in promoting a legislative rider that threatens the San Pedro River and would chiefly benefit his father’s company, ManTech International, and other Department of Defense (DoD) contractors and developers around Sierra Vista, Arizona. The San Pedro River is the last naturally functioning desert river ecosystem in the southwestern United States. In 1988, it was designated by Congress as a Riparian National Conservation Area, with 84 species of mammals, 14 fish species, 41 species of reptiles and amphibians, and 400 species of birds. Life Magazine recognized the San Pedro as one of “America’s Last Great Places” in 1993. It is a global environmental jewel. <http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/press/renzi9-2-03.html>
NEVADA OFFERS $82 MILLION TO SETTLE COLORADO RIVER WATER DISPUTE
Nevada water officials offered to buy $82 million worth of California’s water from the Colorado River, a proposal that was intended to help settle the stalled long-term agreement. Las Vegas Sun (AP); Aug. 31 <http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2003/aug/30/083010537.html>
CALIFORNIA MOVES TO END COLORADO RIVER WATER WARS
A historic agreement has finally been reached between the Imperial Irrigation District, Coachella Valley Irrigation District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and San Diego called the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA). The California legislature has passed 3 key bills to help implement the QSA. The QSA is a condition for implementing the Interim Surplus Criteria which provides for a 15-year “soft landing” transition to get California to reduce its use of the Colorado River to its Compact allocation of 4.4 maf/y. The QSA calls for the transfer of over 200,000 af/y of water from the Imperial Valley to the city of San Diego. This agreement is extremely complex and includes mitigation for protecting the Salton Sea from impacts of the water transfer. There will be additional information about this breaking story next month. <http://www.enn.com/news/2003-09-30/s_8924.asp>
TRANSFER TO REFUGE TESTS NEVADA WATER LAW
A federal appeals court ruled Nevada officials can transfer water from willing irrigators to the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge, despite arguments the case would overturn century-old water rights. Reno Gazette-Journal (AP); Sept. 5 <http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2003/09/04/50862.php?sp1=rgj&sp2=News&sp3=Local+News&sp5=RGJ.com&sp6=news&sp7=local_news>
NEVADA TO SEED CLOUDS AGAIN IN FIGHT AGAINST DROUGHT
Cloud s
Western Water Report: October 4, 2003
Although portions of this report are used on occasion in Colorado Central Magazine, we do not publish the full report there, as we do on this website. It is prepared by Steve Glazer of Crested Butte and is distributed early each month via an email list. To subscribe to that list, email to <listserv@lists.sierraclub.org> with SUBSCRIBE RMC-CONS-WATER as the message.
Please note that this is an archive, and some links may no longer function.
GROUPS SUE TO KEEP WATER IN COLORADO NATIONAL PARK
Environmentalists filed suit to block the federal government’s relinquishment of senior water rights in Colorado’s Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Rocky Mountain News; 9/8 <http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_2238393,00.html>
CRITICS SAY COLORADO WATER MEASURE TOO VAGUE
Colorado’s Referendum A would authorize as much as $2 billion for water projects, but the projects wouldn’t be chosen unless the measure passes, and critics worry it would be a blank check to for Front Range cities to grab Western Slope water. Denver Rocky Mountain News; Sept. 15 <http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/election/article/0,1299,DRMN_36_2259683,00.html>
Full text of the referendum and analysis: <http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/lcsstaff/balpage.htm>http://www.state.co.us/gov_dir/leg_dir/lcsstaff/balpage.htm>
(click on blue book analysis) The crux of the debate over Colorado’s $2 billion water referendum is that the state lets much of its water flow beyond its borders, but critics doubt that much is really available and say it would be far from where it’s needed. Denver Rocky Mountain News; Sept. 25 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=11102>
COLORADO TRIBE GETS CONTRACT TO START WORK ON ALP
A Ute Mountain Ute tribal company received a $2.3 million contract to start work on a key part of western Colorado’s Animas-La Plata water project, although the huge project’s estimated cost has nearly doubled. Farmington Daily Times; Sept. 10 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=10823>
AGENCY TO INVESTIGATE COST OF COLORADO WATER PROJECT
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) has begun an internal investigation into projected cost overruns of nearly 50 percent on Colorado’s Animas-La Plata Project, with one congressman suggesting criminal behavior. Durango Herald; Sept. 25 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=11103>
COLORADO PROJECT DEPENDS ON HOW MUCH COMMUNITIES WILL PAY FOR WATER –
The cost of Colorado’s proposed “Big Straw,” which would pump Colorado River water back over the Continental Divide, still isn’t known but is bound to be high. Denver Rocky Mountain News; Sept. 8 <http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_2241185,00.html> <http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/state/article/0,1299,DRMN_21_2241186,00.html>
UPPER COLORADO RIVER RECOVERY PROGRAM UPDATE
A ten-year contract has been finalized between the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Reclamation (BOR) and the Colorado Water Conservation Board (CWCB) for 10,825 af of stored water in Ruedi Reservoir to augment instream flows in the 15-mile critical habitat reach of the Colorado River. Reclamation will be credited about $70/af/y as its contribution to the Recovery Program ($735,000 per year plus interest) while the Recovery Program will pay the annual O&M cost associated with providing this water, currently about $62,000 annually. Flow targets for the 15-mile reach were bumped up from 250 cfs (drought conditions) to 450 cfs due to better stream flow conditions, then to 810 cfs and as the summer progressed to 1240 cfs as the rains improved river conditions. 27,579 af was available for late summer augmentation from a combination of releases from Ruedi, Wolford Mtn., Green Mountain and Williams Fork reservoirs for 2003. Grand Valley water users (HUP) pool was also made available and was released for the municipal recreation contract.
FISH LADDER FOR GRAND VALLEY DIVERSION
A $4.5 million contract has been let by U.S. Bureau of Reclamation to construct a concrete-lined passage facility for endangered and other fish at the Grand Valley Project Diversion Dam on the Colorado River in Debeque Canyon. The fish passage will give the endangered Colorado pikeminnow, razorback sucker, and bonytail access to critical habitat that has been blocked since the 14-foot-high diversion dam was completed in 1917. Fish passages are already in place at the Redlands Diversion Dam on the Gunnison River and the Grand Valley Irrigation Company Diversion Dam on the Colorado River. (From BOR press release)
SANTA FE TO SELL WATER
Santa Fe officials’ decision to accommodate the Bureau of Reclamation’s request to sell city water from the San Juan River to save the silvery minnow may be the first volley in a vicious water war. Farmington Daily Times; Aug. 31 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=10636>
SENATE WANTS TO DENY MINNOW WATER
The Senate has passed a FY’04 energy and water spending bill containing a rider, sponsored by New Mexico’s two senators, that overturns a court order to use limited amounts of water allocated to municipalities and irrigators to help keep the wild population of the Rio Grande silvery minnow from going extinct, says the Albuquerque Tribune, AP 9/17. The water comes from a federal Colorado River watershed diversion and New Mexico conservationists, including the Endangered Species Coalition, Defenders of Wildlife and Alliance for Rio Grande Heritage say “the rider could severely hamper efforts to come to a made-in-New Mexico solution.”
NEW MEXICO SENATORS’ WATER AMENDMENT WOULD MISFIRE BADLY
New Mexico Sens. Pete Domenici and Jeff Bingaman say their amendment would prevent dam releases solely for endangered species, but it would also let a list of polluters and water-wasting industries off the regulatory hook. Santa Fe New Mexican; 9/22 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=11040>
NEW MEXICO MINNOW LIKELY TO LOSE IN FEDERAL WATER FIGHT
New Mexico Sen. Pete Domenici’s rider to exempt Albuquerque from providing water for the endangered silvery minnow is expected to stay in a federal spending bill, since he’s the lead senator on the conference committee. Albuquerque Tribune; Oct. 2 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=11220>
NEW MEXICO DROUGHT DEMANDS TOUGH MEASURES
Warnings that New Mexico’s drought may last decades demands better conservation. Farmington Daily Times; Sept. 24 <http://www.daily-times.com/artman/publish/Editorial.shtml>
PHELPS DODGE’S EXCESSIVE WATER USAGE PLAN CHALLENGED
The Gila Resources Information Project (GRIP), an environmental group, has filed a protest with New Mexico challenging a plan proposed by Phelps Dodge to combine polluted water from its Chino Mine with groundwater to meet water-quality standards. The group’s appeal challenges a mine close-out plan approved by the New Mexico Environment Department, which would allow the company to use nearly 9,000 acre-feet of ground water a year to dilute polluted water at the site once mining stops. Given the state’s need for water and persistent drought conditions, the plan should be nullified immediately, according to GRIP. <http://www.santafenewmexican.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=31780&SectionID=2&SubSectionID=&S=1>
WYOMING ATTORNEY GENERAL UPHOLDS INSTREAM FLOWS
Wyoming’s attorney general has issued an opinion that wildlife officials’ proposal to protect trout habitat with minimum instream flows is legal. Billings Gazette (AP); Sept. 14 <http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2003/09/14/build/wyoming/35-instream.inc>
SALT LAKE AREA NEEDS EXCEPTIONAL SNOWPACK THIS YEAR
Salt Lake City’s watershed received about 30 percent less precipitation than average last year, and even a normal snowpack this winter won’t be enough to break the drought. Salt Lake Tribune; Oct. 1 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=11194>
‘PAPER WATER’ LEAVES UTAH COMMUNITY HIGH AND DRY
Five years of drought have left some Summit County developments without water and facing the effects of over-commitment of water rights nearly 20 years ago. Salt Lake Tribune; Sept. 28 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=11143>
UTAH PROPOSES THE UNTHINKABLE: TAKING AWAY WATER RIGHTS
At least two Utah aquifers, including Salt Lake County’s, are being drained faster than they can be replenished, and state officials want the authority to take away water rights from junior users. Salt Lake Tribune; Sept. 18 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=10965>
UTAH EYES $354 MILLION PIPELINE TO WATER FAST-GROWING ST. GEORGE
Utah officials unveiled a controversial plan that would build a 122-mile pipeline to carry water from Lake Powell to St. George. Fast-growing St. George sits over a limited aquifer with no river to feed it, and as demand for water rises, the cost of a pipeline from Lake Powell has gone up by two-thirds and a battle over water rights looms. Deseret News; 9/17 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=10947> <http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Sep/09192003/utah/93736.asp>
SALT LAKE TRIES TO KEEP WATER SOURCES SAFE FROM RECREATIONISTS
Salt Lake City officials are launching a public relations campaign and posting no-swimming signs in four heavily visited canyons that supply about half the city’s drinking water. Salt Lake Tribune; Sept. 24 <http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Sep/09242003/utah/95285.asp>
STATE ENGINEER SAYS UTAH HAS PLENTY OF WATER BUT IT IS NOT CHEAP
Utah has enough water to serve several times its current population but the cost of providing that water will run into billions of dollars. Deseret Morning News; Sept. 21 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=11013>
ARIZONA TRIBE CHALLENGES COAL COMPANY’S WATER USE
The Hopi tribe says a coal company is depleting the tribe’s groundwater, setting up a possible lawsuit that could lead to the tribe asserting their seniority rights to water and controlling use of that water in the future. Arizona Republic; Sept. 21 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=11030>
ARIZONA UTILITY MINES GROUND WATER TO MEET DEMAND
Continued drought and rising demand have forced the Salt River Project, Phoenix’s main water utility, to pump nearly 100 billion gallons of ground water this year, doubling the rate at which the amount of water taken out exceeds the aquifer’s recharge. Arizona Republic; Sept. 26 <http://www.headwatersnews.org/stories/redirect.php?id=11125>
RENZI’S RIDER WOULD KILL RIVER TO AID CORPORATIONS & DEVELOPERS
In a letter sent to Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ), the Center for Biological Diversity details Renzi’s lack of candor in promoting a legislative rider that threatens the San Pedro River and would chiefly benefit his father’s company, ManTech International, and other Department of Defense (DoD) contractors and developers around Sierra Vista, Arizona. The San Pedro River is the last naturally functioning desert river ecosystem in the southwestern United States. In 1988, it was designated by Congress as a Riparian National Conservation Area, with 84 species of mammals, 14 fish species, 41 species of reptiles and amphibians, and 400 species of birds. Life Magazine recognized the San Pedro as one of “America’s Last Great Places” in 1993. It is a global environmental jewel. <http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/press/renzi9-2-03.html>
NEVADA OFFERS $82 MILLION TO SETTLE COLORADO RIVER WATER DISPUTE
Nevada water officials offered to buy $82 million worth of California’s water from the Colorado River, a proposal that was intended to help settle the stalled long-term agreement. Las Vegas Sun (AP); Aug. 31 <http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2003/aug/30/083010537.html>
CALIFORNIA MOVES TO END COLORADO RIVER WATER WARS
A historic agreement has finally been reached between the Imperial Irrigation District, Coachella Valley Irrigation District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and San Diego called the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA). The California legislature has passed 3 key bills to help implement the QSA. The QSA is a condition for implementing the Interim Surplus Criteria which provides for a 15-year “soft landing” transition to get California to reduce its use of the Colorado River to its Compact allocation of 4.4 maf/y. The QSA calls for the transfer of over 200,000 af/y of water from the Imperial Valley to the city of San Diego. This agreement is extremely complex and includes mitigation for protecting the Salton Sea from impacts of the water transfer. There will be additional information about this breaking story next month. <http://www.enn.com/news/2003-09-30/s_8924.asp>
TRANSFER TO REFUGE TESTS NEVADA WATER LAW
A federal appeals court ruled Nevada officials can transfer water from willing irrigators to the Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge, despite arguments the case would overturn century-old water rights. Reno Gazette-Journal (AP); Sept. 5 <http://www.rgj.com/news/stories/html/2003/09/04/50862.php?sp1=rgj&sp2=News&sp3=Local+News&sp5=RGJ.com&sp6=news&sp7=local_news>
