Feds Plan to Play Sheriff in West's Water Wars: USA Today

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Page 2 of 3 "Demands on water are going to be increasing as the population increases. You can't solve the problem once the crisis hits," Norton said. "Last year's tremendous drought across the west ... was a dramatic warning signal that we need to think ahead. "Water experts say the emphasis on sharing and conserving is an unusual step for the federal government to take. "Refreshing," said David Getches, a University of Colorado law professor and authority on western water. "They don't say we need to build more buckets to put water in, water that we know isn't going to come from nature. It focuses on population growth. This is the big problem in the west." © Copyright 2003 USA TODAY, a division of " http : / /www.gannett.com / " >Gannett Co. Inc Friday, May 02, 2003 Department Identifies Likely Sites of Western Water Wars By SETH HETTENA I Associated Press Interior SAN DIEGO - The Interior Department has identified cities across the West that are likely to experience conflicts over water during the next 25 years. The department's map shows Western communities where conflict is "highly likely" by 2025: Las Vegas, Carson City, Nev.; Albuquerque, N.M.; Denver; Houston and Salt Lake City. "In some areas of the West, existing water supplies are, or will be, inadequate to meet the demands for water for people, cities, farms and the environment even under normal supply conditions," according to the Interior Department. Explosive growth across the West is straining water resources that also support billion - dollar farm economies and are crucial to maintaining the survival of a host of endangered species. On the department's map, two of the West's main waterways, the Rio Grande and the Colorado River, were marked in red as highly likely sources of future conflict. There was a "substantial" possibility of water wars in other Western cities, including Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, Phoenix, San Antonio among others, according to the department's map, a copy of which was made available to The Associated Press. A third level of cities had a "moderate" chance of future conflict, including Seattle; Dallas; Casper, Wyo.; Boise, Idaho; Salem, Ore. Interior Secretary Gale Norton ordered her staff to develop the map of potential future hot spots in the hopes of averting a repeat of the crisis in the Klamath Basin in 2001. Armed federal officers were called in to protect supplies from farmers angry over the Interior Department's decision to cut off their water to protect endangered salmon. The Klamath River had a "substantial" possibility for sparking conflict again by 2025, according to the Interior Department. Another water war erupted this year in California, after the state failed to meet a Dec. 31 deadline to sign a deal aimed at reducing the state's historic overdependence on the Colorado River. In response, Norton reduced the amount of water California can draw from the Colorado River this year by 600,000 acre -feet, enough water for 1.2 million people. "Crisis management is not an effective solution for addressing long -term systematic water supply problems," Norton said in a statement. 5/5/2003