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,r Iktis-say water for Arizona is at risk Page 2 of : Under an agreement worked out by the states, the past several years have been "surplus" years on paper, even though the river has experienced the worst drought in half a millennium. Raley noted that the river's network of reservoirs are more than half empty as a result of the drought, now in its sixth year. But it was those reservoirs that allowed the states to continue to draw full shares and that let Nevada and California take extra water to help cover gaps in their in-state supplies. While many people say the drought has pushed the Colorado to near failure, Raley said Sunday that it operates far better than almost any other major river in the West, mostly because of the complicated set of laws that governs it. More than 30 million people rely on the river for water and electricity. Raley pointed to other issues on the river that Arizona should monitor: · Power production. If the coming winter is as dry as 2002, Lake Powell would drop so low that Glen Canyon Dam would have to shut down its power generating turbines in early 2006. That would disrupt the entire West, Raley said. · Growing Nevada needs an interim water supply until it can develop alternative sources in-state. That interim supply could include water banked with Arizona. "You can't wish that away," Raley said. "It is there and needs work. Failure to do something could be very destabilizing for the future of the river." · He pointed to a series of successes on the river related to environmental protection, including the Multi-Species Conservation Plan. Email this article Print this article Most popular pages Click to send Click to print Today I This Week http://www . azcentral.comlphp-binlclicktrack/print. php ?referer=hup:/ /www .azcentral.comlnews/articles/ 11 0... 11/1/200<