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<br />~nt By: Bill Swan Consulting Services' 480 941 8658' <br />,,' ,.,' .' Dec-23-02 12:28PM' <br />Fight over Colorado River has diVided West for dec&4eS .;. l'O~IJ'f.~ -l~'-'U.Il~UJ.- ' <br /> <br />Page 9/14 <br />- -g- . - <br /> <br />"We've allocated more than is physically available beeqj.~ politically we could not get to <br />the point where we allocated what was aotually there.," said Eric Kuhn, general manager for <br />the Colorado River Water Conservation District in ~ Colorado. llThere is not 7.5 <br />million acre-feet for each basin and another 1.5 million fof Mexico." <br /> <br />As a result, the lower basin's shares C8ITY the force of legaI .mandate; the upper basin's do <br />not. <br /> <br />Over-achieving <br /> <br />And, so, upper basin allocations are by percentages: 51.75 percent for Colorado, 23 percent <br />for Utah, 14 percent for Wyoming and 11.25 percent fot New Mexico. <br /> <br />With only 6 million acre-feet reliably available for the baSin, the pereentages mean <br />Colorado gets 3.1 million, Utah 1.3 million, Wyoming 833,000 and New Mexico 669,000, <br />according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. <br /> <br />Tbe upper basin states have yet to use their full amOUDtS.,:and Nevada and Arizona just now <br />are. In contrast, California has been using more than its share for decades. <br /> <br />Like Northern California attitudes toward Southern California, upper basin residents long <br />have sneered at the lower states for building elaborate. iystems of canals hundreds of miles <br />long to create what they consider to be artiticiallush lifeStyles that otherwise could not be <br />sustained in the desert. <br /> <br />"There is a concern that the water is going to places ~e it wouldn't go naturally," said <br />Theresa Worsham, chairwoman of the Denver Water Board's citizens advisory committee. <br /> <br />And for some upper basin residents, it doesn't seem f~r.that they are the recipients of the <br />bad weather that produces the water that make! the deSert green downstre8ID, she said. <br />According to 1he Colorado River Water Users Associauoo, more than 70 percent of the <br />river originates in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado; in the form of snow falling from the <br />sky. <br /> <br />But even in Colorado, people are sharply divided over water. <br /> <br />"Folks in Den"er are always saying, 'We can't let Califumia have our water,'1l Kuhn said. <br />"But people on the Western slope are saying, 'Let it gO to California so we can fish and raft: <br />in it on its way out of the state.'" <br /> <br />ContaCt staffwnte'r Dave Downey at (760) 740-3529.01' ddowney@nctimes.com. <br /> <br />12/22/02 <br /> <br />Pr_~i()u~ Story II Headlines \I Ne~t~ry <br /> <br />Send to a friend - enter e-mail address: <br />r... <br /> <br />>.\ti.. "~X1~:~('!~ ' ,\.:/~:"" ~ ~~~~ <br />~'I..':t:);.r .,{:~,,~~1f:~1'''h,i;,'l.!t'''/JJ~!' l~. <br /> <br />http://www.nctimes.netlnewsl2002l20021222111111.html : <br /> <br />12/2312002 <br />