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<br />Babbitt announces water rule change <br /> <br />, <br /> <br />uu2742 <br /> <br />http://www.insidedenver.com/news/1219water.html <br /> <br />, <br /> <br /> <br />REAL ESTATE COLORADO JOBS <br /> <br />NEWS <br />AUDIO HEADLINES <br />WEAlllEFt <br />STOCKS <br />LOTTO NUMBERS <br />APWlRE <br />EXTRA <br />JENSEN <br />SEEBACH <br />AMOll? <br />FAANKE"F'Ol.SiAD <br />1't0lNARD <br />JOHNSON <br />NORM! <br />DENVER SQUARJ$ <br /> <br />lof2 <br /> <br />.~. Babbitt announces water rule change <br /> <br />Regulation to allow Colorado River states to sell off surpluses <br /> <br />By Todd S. Purdum <br />The New York Times <br /> <br />LAS VEGAS - Opening the way for a new market in vital water for <br />growing Western states, Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt Thursday <br />announced a federal rule that for the first time would allow interstate <br />sales of water from the Colorado River. <br /> <br />However, he warned once more that California must work harder to <br />reduce its dependence on the river. <br /> <br />In a speech to the annual meeting of the Colorado River Water Users <br />Association here and in remarks to reporters afterward, Babbitt said the <br />new rule, to be issued later this month and to take effect next year after a <br />period for public comment, was an important step in enabling Western <br />states to sort out their water needs in an orderly way, without resorting to <br />bitter litigation. <br /> <br />"If we work this well, there's enough water," Babbitt said. <br /> <br />The short-term effect of the rule, which would apply only to the lower <br />Colorado basin states -- Arizona, Nevada and California -- would be to <br />allow Arizona, which has stored excess Colorado River water <br />underground in aquifers, to sell it to fast-growing Nevada, which has <br />new demands for it. <br /> <br />But in the longer term, the measure could be extended in the 21 st <br />century to allow states in the upper basin, such as water-rich Utah, to sell <br />water to more populous neighbors for a profit. <br /> <br />Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who also addressed the meeting Thursday, said <br />he strongly supported Babbitt's proposal and that "we in Nevada <br />recognize that our long-term supply solutions" will depend on such <br />measures, which, he added, "will cost us money." <br /> <br />Under the Colorado River Compact of 1922, which set rules for water <br />use among the seven states that the river serves, the lower basin states <br />together are entitled to 7.5 million acre-feet a year, and the upper basin <br />states -- Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico -- are also allotted <br />7.5 million. <br /> <br />An acre-foot is the amount needed to cover an acre of land a foot deep in <br /> <br />12/22/97 11 :28:38 <br />