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<br /> <br />Sharing Colorado River Water: History, Public Policy and the Colorado River Compact Page 11 of 15 <br /> <br />The Arizona water bank is not a marketing strategy. Instead, it provides an interstate <br />service through its conjunctive use of Colorado River surface water and Arizona <br />groundwater reserves. In this way it encourages greater flexibility in Colorado River <br />management. <br /> <br />Despite present difficulties some officials view water marketing as the future of <br />Colorado River management. MacDonnell claims water marketing represents the "thi <br />generation of the division of the waters of the river." The first generation occurred wt <br />the compact apportioned water between the Upper and Lower Basins. The second <br />generation extends from 1922 to the present and is characterized by development <br />determining water division. A strong presence during generations one and two, politic <br />according to MacDonnell is expected to playa less heavy-handed role during the <br />anticipated third generation. Market forces are likely to gain greater influence. <br /> <br />Before more transferring and marketing of Colorado River water occurs, basic questi< <br />about the interstate and intrastate movement of water must be answered. According t( <br />panelist Robert Johnson, Lower Basin States regional director, whatever breakthrougl <br />occur in the near future regarding water marketing and transfer likely will apply only <br />intrabasin transfers. He said that at present the legal and political obstacles are <br />sufficiently formidable to prevent exchanges between the Upper and Lower Basin sta <br /> <br />Colorado River Environmental Concerns <br /> <br />That the Colorado River Compact did not include provisions to protect the enviromm <br />is no more surprising than that Model T's did not have seat belts. Ideas mature, ripen; <br />have seasons. 1922 was not the season for environmental protection. <br /> <br />Environmental issues, however, are very prominent on the Colorado River today. <br />Patricia Beneke, Assistant Secretary for Water and Science, U. S. Department of the <br />Interior, stated at the conference that environmental concerns will be the next generat <br />of issues on the Colorado River. <br /> <br />An environmental ethic arises as a force in contemporary life through a somewhat <br />different historical process than, say, water marketing and to some extent Indian wate <br />rights. Espousing an environmental ethic involves a shift in thinking, a reorientation ( <br />values, away from the human-centered and toward acknowledging an obligation to th <br />natural world. <br /> <br />Development, however, was the overriding concern of the 1922 compact. Its intent w, <br />"to secure the expeditious agricultural and industrial development of the Colorado <br />Basin, the storage of its waters, and the protection of life and property from floods." <br />Establishing Colorado River rights was a prerequisite to building flood control and <br />storage projects, to better manage the river to serve human needs. This boosted states' <br />potential to grow and develop. <br /> <br />Such a strategy, however was undertaken at a great cost to the environment, and a ran <br />of environmental concerns now beset the Colorado River, both in the United States ar <br />Mexico. For example, dams and diversions, with water used and reused, created <br />conditions very unfavorable to native fish species. Not only do dams block fish passa; <br />they also reduce spring flows, trap silt, and alter water temperatures, all to the <br /> <br />http://ag.arizona.edulAZWATERlarroyo/1 0 1 comm.html <br /> <br />9/12/2006 <br />