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<br />Babbitt announces water rule change <br /> <br />'t: <br /> <br />~ <br />1 <br /> <br /> <br />@ Copyright, <br />E. W. Scripps <br />Talk to us <br /> <br />2of2 <br /> <br />002743 <br /> <br />http://www.insidedenver.com/news/I219water.html <br /> <br />water, about 326,000 gallons. <br /> <br />For most of the century, transfer of water between the states was not an <br />issue, because they never exceeded their allocations. But in recent years <br />the lower basin states have exceeded their limit, driven by California, <br />which is currently running about 800,000 acre-feet above its <br />4.4-million-acre- foot allotment. <br /> <br />Depending on rainfall and reservoir conditions, the Interior secretary <br />determines whether annual surpluses are available to the states, and <br />California has been living on such surpluses from year to year over the <br />last decade or so. <br /> <br />That has long angered California's lower basin neighbors, Arizona and <br />Nevada, which fear that whatever their own legal rights, it will prove <br />politically difficult to wean California from using more than its share. <br /> <br />Earlier efforts by individual states to stockpile excess water for future <br />use or sale foundered in disagreements over attempts to store such water <br />at federal expense in reservoirs such as Lake Mead. But Arizona's <br />success in storing water underground paved the way for the proposal <br />announced Thursday. <br /> <br />In a related effort by Babbitt, the secretary has been pressuring <br />California for well over a year to come up with a plan to live within its <br />allocation. Thursday, he said he would not establish detailed criteria for <br />declaring surpluses in advance until California took further concrete <br />steps to make do with what it is allotted, especially by curtailing waste <br />of water in agricultural areas such as the Imperial Valley, situated in the <br />state's southeastern comer, and reallocating it to urban users. <br /> <br />December 19, 1997 <br /> <br />In person! <br /> <br />"", [~~Ie~_ <br />~ ,/,.,,,., - <br />" 't'~'1 --, <br />... . J , . ,. "..__ <br />~t ~ ! 'M ~".~ <br />~,:;r ~'.:~i~ta~j~~~~f~L;;].Jt~~ <br />L~li~.jji:~[tr~~aI <br /> <br />InfoPae:es . Store . Classified . Real Estate . Colorado Jobs <br />Home' News' Sports' Going Out. Your Monev ,Recreation' Internet' Extra <br /> <br />12/22/97 II :28:39 <br />