Old ghosts haunt modern negotiations over use of the Colorado River. If the seven states, including Colorado, that share the river can’t resolve their disputes, the West could face a regionwide squabble that will make it hard to plan for growth.
In a recent letter to the U.S. Interior Secretary Gale Norton, the states outlined what issues should take priority as the Department of Interior crafts new rules for managing Lake Mead and Lake Powell during droughts – and how the states will share the pain of future shortages. The states haven’t resolved their feuds, but it was encouraging that they agreed on what issues to spotlight.
In May, Norton began drafting the drought-sharing plan after the states failed to come up with their own proposal. Norton wants to to issue a detailed impact statement, take public comments and issue final rules before leaving office in 2008. The seven states are trying to help Interior craft the rules.
We’re glad Interior is moving to resolve some of the seemingly intractable disputes that have festered since the states signed the 1922 Colorado River Interstate Compact. Norton must be willing to play referee, taking flak from any state that feels it is asked to sacrifice too much on the altar of regional cooperation and national need. In an understatement, the recent letter says that “the basin states recognize that the concepts discussed in this letter raise potentially significant legal and political issues.”
But if nothing gets done, chaos could reign. The 1922 pact divided the river’s water between the upper basin (Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico) and the lower basin (California, Nevada and Arizona), and generally kept the peace.
But the river never averaged the water levels the pact envisioned. Meanwhile, the West’s population soared. This decade, a harsh drought left the West without a way to share the pain. Norton wants a plan in place before the next drought.
Yet the 1922 pact has political landmines. Among them: Arizona’s refusal to accept that the compact applies not just to the Colorado River’s main stem, but also its tributaries, specifically the Gila River. The other six states insist the compact applies to all tributaries. The same dispute nearly sank the compact 80 years ago and still could drag the states and Uncle Sam into lengthy and costly lawsuits.
At a recent meeting in San Diego, the states set aside that dispute and sought ways to manage the river without exploding the legal landmines. Some ideas merit support, such as more re-use of wastewater and eradicating tamarisk, a water-hungry, invasive plant. One is controversial: The states want Uncle Sam to better manage Lake Mead’s water releases by building new water projects between Mead and the coast.
Efforts to update the compact spotlight why managing the West’s water is the key to our region’s future.
