CRWUA 2006 Resolutions and Supporting Position Statements

Home Browse Search

It is critical that the international cooperation that has existed between the two countries regarding the Colorado River continues, and that those efforts include participation by the Basin States. Resolution No. 2006 -16 - -- UTILIZATION OF EXISTING WATER SUPPLY FACILITIES The Bureau of Reclamation and the Department of the Interior should exercise their maximum authority under existing law to permit the execution of contracts for the storage of non - project water in excess project space and project water in non - project space, including water for irrigation, municipal and industrial purposes, and for the use of excess capacity in project conveyance and distribution facilities for conveyance of non - project water. Contracting should include appropriate review by project operators and repayment entities and provisions that fully protect existing project beneficiaries. Revenues from the storage of non - project water in excess of project space or use of excess capacity in project conveyance and distribution facilities should be used first to satisfy project operation and maintenance costs, then to satisfy project construction costs, and then to fund improvements of project facilities by project beneficiaries. As hydrologic conditions have improved after the 2000 through 2004 drought that plagued the Colorado River Basin and most of the western United States, the Bureau of Reclamation should do its utmost to build reservoir conservation storage in each of the reservoirs which it manages. The - refilling of vacant space in Lake Mead, Lake Powell and the other Colorado River Storage Project (CRSP) storage facilities is of critical importance to all of the members of the CRWUA. The CRWUA urges Reclamation to take all appropriate steps to build conservation storage in these reservoirs as quickly as practicable. Position Statement--- Utilization of Existing Water Supply Facilities--- (Resolution No. 2006 -16) The United States owns enormous and costly water supply infrastructure in the West. This investment by the people of the United States should be used to the maximum extent possible to benefit the nation. In order to meet the water challenges of the present century, water transfers will continue to play an important and vital role in meeting water supply deficiencies. The federally constructed water infrastructure within the Colorado River Basin provides many opportunities for meeting water supply challenges. The Colorado River Water Users Association urges the Department of the Interior and Bureau of Reclamation to exercise their maximum legal authority to facilitate water supply and water transfer projects. The ability to use existing water storage, conveyance and distribution facilities with greater flexibility within existing federal and state laws will provide additional benefits for the people of the United States without significant increased cost. Resolution No. 2006 -17 - -- THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR'S WATER 2025 INITIATIVE The Colorado River Water Users Association ( CRWUA) supports the purposes of the U.S. Department of the Interior's (DOI's) Water 2025 Initiative: Preventing Crises and Conflict in the West intended to develop a dialogue on means of preventing chronic water supply problems facing many communities in the coming decades. The CRWUA concurs in the view that crisis management is not an effective solution to meeting the water supply challenges. CRWUA encourages the DOI to recognize the need for and to modify its Water 2025 Initiative to include a water supply enhancement component. Additional water project infrastructure is and will continue to be needed to meet the challenges that the West is facing. The CRWUA believes the Department of the Interior must focus efforts on and dedicate increased funding to maintain existing water project infrastructure, establish a more proactive infrastructure rehabilitation program and develop additional storage capacity. Congress shall fund this initiative at levels requested by the DOI. The CRWUA fully supports the DOI's inclusion as a primary principle of Water 2025 that solutions to complex water supply issues must recognize and respect state, tribal, and federal water rights, contracts, and interstate compacts and decrees of the United States Supreme Court that allocate the right to use water. Position Statement - -- The U.S. Department of the Interior's Water 2025 Initiative - -- (Resolution No. 2006 -17) On May 2, 2003, the Department of the Interior announced a new initiative to be known as "Water 2025: Preventing Crises and Conflict in the West." This plan calls for concentrating existing federal financial and technical resources in key western watersheds and in critical research and development to help predict, prevent and alleviate water 18