WSPP329 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

... Fe~ls'say water for Arizona is at risk Page 1 of: azcentral.com '" Email this article Print this article Most popular pages Click to send Click to print Today I This Week Feds say water for Arizona is at risk Droughtphm with states urued Shaun McKinnon The Arizona Republic Nov. 1,200412:00 AM GRAND CANYON - The federal government's top water official urged Arizona leaders Sunday to work with other states to develop a drought plan for the Colorado River because not even the best scientists can say when this dry spell will end. Speaking to the opening session of Arizona Town Hall, Assistant Interior Secretary Bennett Raley said the states that use the Colorado must be prepared for a range of scenarios in the coming years and can't rely on any set of computer predictions. "Our best modelers didn't predict the last five years of drought," Raley said. "Do not be deluded into thinking that models will tell you what will happen next year. Their crystal ball doesn't work." More than 170 leaders from around the state are gathered here until Wednesday to discuss water issues and produce a set of recommendations that could help guide water policy in coming years. Drought and the Colorado River are among the key topics. Gov. Janet Napolitano is scheduled to address Town Hall delegates today. Arizona and the other Colorado River states are trying to negotiate a set of rules that would spell out when a shortage would be declared on the river and how the shortfalls would be spread among the states. Under existing law, if there is no other agreement in place and the Interior secretary were forced to declare a shortage on the river because of drought, the first taps to run dry would be those that feed the Central Arizona Project. That means billions of gallons of water that now flow to Phoenix and Tucson would instead remain in the river for Nevada and California. Raley acknowledged Arizona's unenviable position, brought about by a series of negotiations that made the CAP possible. An agreement among the seven states could protect some of that water. Raley said his boss, Interior Secretary Gale Norton, wants the states to settle the big issues so the federal government doesn't have to issue a unilateral edict. "That is her absolute last choice," Raley said. "You need to work with your sister states because you can do a better job than Secretary Norton or any other Interior secretary." Raley confirmed that the secretary will declare 2005 a "normal" year on the river, which means the end of even the small amounts of extra water that have been available to California and Nevada in recent years. http://www .azcentra1.comlphp-bin/c1icktrack/print. php?referer=http://www .azcentra1.comlnews/artic1es/11 0... 11/1/200,