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<br />lOCi) <br /> <br />REGIONAL WATER AND PavER DEVELOPMENT <br /> <br />Western States Water Council <br /> <br />The Western States Water Council (WSWC) was established by the <br />Western Governor's Conference in 1964 and 1965 to promote effective <br />cooperation among the western states in the integrated development <br />of their water resources. Eleven states were included in the Council <br />initially, with Texas joining in 1978. California's Council delegates <br />in 1980 were Ronald B. Robie, Director of the Department of Water <br />Resources and Ruben Ayala, State Senator, 32nd District. Robert <br />Miller, Department of Water Resources, and William Attwater, State <br />Water Resources Control Board, served as Alternate Members. The <br />Board's Chief Engineer serves as an advisor to the California <br />delegation. <br /> <br />At its January meeting, the Council adopted positions supporting <br />continued financing and expansion of the Soil Conservation Service's <br />snow survey program, which is important in the Colorado River Basin, <br />and opposing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's request for <br />increased releases from a Texas dam for downstream fishing and recre- <br />ation as a condition for licensing. The Council also determined that <br />there should be an aggressive campaign to express the position of the <br />western states with respect to the Carter Administration's Task Force <br />5(a) Non-Indian Reserved Water Rights report and that it should vigor- <br />ously oppose the Interior Solicitor's Opinion asserting a new federal <br />doctrine of a non-reserved federal water right. <br /> <br />At its April meeting, the Council adopted resolutions to <br />support enactment of legislation providing that all rights to the use <br />of water claimed by the United States shall be acquired in compliance <br />with procedural and substantial state law, except for reserved water <br />rights adjudicated in conjunction with the reservation or withdrawal <br />of lands from the public domain. Also, it acted to support changes <br />to the Safe Drinking Water Act to require the Environmental Protection <br />Agency (EPA) to employ economic-risk analyses, to further clarify <br />EPA's authority to set standards, and to eliminate EPA's power to <br />impose treatment technique requirements except as provided for in <br />the Act. <br /> <br />At its July meeting, the Council urged Congress to include <br />language in any "fast track" energy legislation that will make it <br />clear that state decisions concerning the use of water will not be <br />overturned by federal action. This was because at that time legi- <br />slation was being considered that would institute a "bump-up" pro- <br />vision under which, if a federal, state, or local agency failed to <br />act ,flthin the project decision schedule time limits, the proposed <br />energy mobilization board could act in place of the agency and sub- <br />stitute its discretion over that of the agency. <br /> <br />-15- <br />