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<br />. <br /> <br />Page I of2 <br /> <br />TheDenverChannel.com <br /> <br />Colorado, Other States Discuss Colorado River <br />Water <br /> <br />POSTED: 12:48 p.m. MST March 13, 2003 <br /> <br />LAS VEGAS -- Officials from states sharing Colorado River water were meeting in Las <br />Vegas Thursday, a day after a truce was proposed in a California water rights fight <br />affecting their drinking water supply, <br /> <br /> <br />~~'1~\ The Southern Nevada Water Authority hosted the closed- <br />_,-~~,:--...~-._ >_ . door meeting of representatives from Arizona, California, <br />. \ . ,- .' -.. '. Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, said <br />.. - Vince Alberta, spokesman for the Las VegaS-based water <br />- agency, <br /> <br />Assistant Interior Secretary Bennett Raley, who was <br />credited with overseeing the truce in the three-month <br />fight over water aliocations in California, was in Las Vegas <br />but was not expected to attend, Alberta said. The Interior Department is being sued <br />by one of the California agencies involved in the dispute, the Imperial Irrigation <br />District. <br /> <br />John Carter, lead negotiator for the Imperial Irrigation District, said he would present <br />the planned settlement to the water representatives, He declined to discuss detaiis of <br />the proposed agreement, <br /> <br />On Wednesday, California Gov. Gray Davis announced what he calied a breakthrough <br />in the dispute among four Southern California water agencies over the water they <br />draw from the Colorado River. <br /> <br />The proposed agreement, detailed in a 27-page summary, was the product of weeks <br />of talks led by Davis' office. <br /> <br />California missed a Dec. 31 deadline to sign a deal, years in the making, to reduce <br />the state's overdependence on the Colorado River, In response, Interior Secretary <br />Gale Norton cut the amount of water California can draw from the river this year by <br />600,000 acre-feet, enough water for 1.2 miliion people. <br /> <br />Nevada also lost a surplus aliocatlon of river water that was supplying 60,000 people, <br /> <br />California officials said Wednesday that they believe the tentative agreement would <br />satisfy the Interior Department, which wants California to live with less water from <br />the Colorado River, and wouid let Norton restore the water that she withheld from the <br />state. <br /> <br />http://www.thedenverchannel.com/print/2038694/dctail.html?usc=print <br /> <br />3/13/2003 <br />