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<br />High Country News -- Printable -- February 21, 1994: Las Vegas wheels and deals for Co... age 4 of 6 <br /> <br />.. <br /> <br />The California and Nevada urban water districts agreed to pay the financially troubled <br />irrigation district (HCN, 8/1 0/92), which operates the Central Arizona Project, to store <br />100,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water in groundwater aquifers under farms served y <br />the aqueduct. During droughts, the cities could draw on that stored water. <br /> <br />The deal, which was approved as a demonstration project by the Bureau of Reclamatio , is <br />simple conceptually but complicated in the details. Basically, some of Arizona's share fthe <br />Colorado River is moved through the Central Arizona Project canals - at Nevada's and <br />Southern California's expense - to Arizona farmers who normally irrigate with ground <br />These farmers use the Colorado River water, leaving the groundwater in the aquifers. <br /> <br /> <br />In a drought, the farmers would draw on the stored groundwater, and California and Nvada <br />would take additional water out of Lake Mead. Other conditions apply, of course. But i <br />outline, some of Arizona's share of Colorado River water is being transferred to Nevad and <br />Southern California. <br /> <br />"It's a chip away at water marketing" on the Colorado River, says David Donnelly, chi f <br />engineer of the Las Vegas water agency. "It required people to bend the rules a little bi . It's <br />significant and precedent-setting that both California and Nevada now have water stor d in <br />Arizona. " <br /> <br />Eventually, Las Vegas hopes to use its growing muscle to enlarge that crack and nearl <br />double its supply from the Colorado River. Las Vegas is eagerly awaiting a proposal fr m <br />the Arizona Department of Water Resources and the Central Arizona Water Conservat on <br />District that might expand the program to "several million acre-feet," says Donnelly. B t, he <br />says, the water-banking program and the Bureau of Reclamation's new rules for the 10 er <br />Colorado River are not likely to provide all the water Las Vegas needs. That will requl' e <br />negotiations with other Colorado River states. <br /> <br />Those states are watching how the bureau's efforts "to leverage change" will help Mu y's <br />crusade. The 1922 Colorado River Compact was designed to protect the other six com I act <br />states from the economic power of California. <br /> <br />The protection was needed because, if money and population had been the only measu e, all <br />the Colorado River water would have quickly flowed to Southern California, rather th <br />remaining in Wyoming and Utah and Arizona to raise low-value crops like alfalfa and <br />cotton. Not much has changed from 1922 to today. <br /> <br />From the perspective of Utah or New Mexico or Wyoming, still awaiting further <br />urbanization and industrialization, watching their compact water flow off marginal f: <br />and toward buyers in Las Vegas is no different than watching it flow to Los Angeles. <br /> <br />Mulroy has not yet directly taken on the upper-basin states of Colorado, Wyoming, Ut <br />and New Mexico. She says her immediate goal is to change how the lower-basin state <br />(California, Nevada and Arizona) apportion water among themselves. She says that u <br />Arizona, Nevada and California have their house in order, it doesn't make sense to ta <br />the upper basin states about water transfers. <br /> <br /> <br />http://www.hcn.org/servletslhcn.PrintableArticle?article_id=118 <br /> <br />9/1212006 <br />