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<br />-- . <br /> <br />R1Z0 <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />- <br /> <br />'We have had several different bills that have water-rights language. They are beginning <br />to hone in on the most precise possible language. I would not be surprised if many <br />future bills look like the Arizona bill. ' <br /> <br />bie Sease, a lobbyist with the Sierra Club. "The house <br />language that will be used in this bill confirms what has <br />been standard practice, About 99,9% of federal water <br />rights will be quantified through the state." <br />According to Sease, if the Arizona wilderness bill is <br />passed, water rights will be quantlfied in a procedure <br />consistent with the 1952 McCarran Amendment. The <br />McCarran Amendment states that the federal govern- <br />ment gives up a piece of its sovereign immunity on the <br />adjudication of water rights to the states, This new bill <br />will not change that procedure, <br />The bill, H.R. 2570, has already passed the house. <br />The Senate version, S. 2117, has not yet been marked up. <br />"The bill was the subject of a hearing about a month <br />ago in the public land subcommittee and a number of <br />questions came np," said John Raidt, a legislative assis- <br />. tant in Senator McCain's office, "The water-rights lan- <br />guage was the primary focus of that hearing. A full-com- <br />mittee markup has not been scheduled, but I would an- <br />ticipate one within the next few months," <br />Raidt said that senators DeConcini and McCain have <br />agreed to support the House water-rights language, al- <br />though it was not included in S. 2117. The language <br />states that "Congress hereby reserves a quantity of water <br />sufficient to fulfill the purposes of this Act , . . in accord- <br />ance with the McCarran Amendmenl." <br />Representative John J. Rhodes ill (R-Ariz.) added a <br />clause, which states that the water-rights language in the <br />Arizona bill is specific to that state's wilderness areas <br />and does not set a precedent for future decisions. <br />"People say it's not setting a precedent, but it does set <br />a good model for other delegations that are looking at <br />similar situations,. said Sease. "We have had several dif- <br />ferent bills that have water-rights language, They are <br />beginning to hone in on the most precise language pos- <br />sible. I would not be surprised if many future bills look <br />like the Arizona bill" <br />Sease said that senators James McClure (R-Idaho) <br />and Malcolm Wallop (R-Wyo.) are expected to be the <br />. primary source of opposition to the bill because of the <br />water-rights language. But, she said, Arizona's Depart- <br />ment of Natural Resources was involved in the crafting <br /> <br />4 JUNE 1990 <br /> <br />of the bill, and "they are satisfied that the state's inter- <br />ests are protected by this language.. <br />She also said that western water engineers have said <br />that the water rights would not disrupt service to con- <br />sumptive users. <br />"This is a nonconsumptive right," she said. "It's junior <br />to existing right holders. If there is water coming out <br />upstream, it's going to continue,. <br />Raidt agreed, saying that senators DeConcini and Mc- <br />Cain "felt confident that it's quite clear that any water <br />rights in wilderness areas are junior to preexisting water <br />rights." <br /> <br />CAUFORNIA DROUGHT PROMPTS <br />INTERBASIN TRANSFER <br /> <br />In May, the State Water Resources Control Board con- <br />sidered the temporary transfer of up to 300,000 acre-ft <br />of Yuba River Development water to the California <br />Department ofW.ter Resources (DWR). <br />If approved, the temporary changes would allow the <br />interbasin transfer of water from New Bu1Iards Bar <br />Reservoir to DWR at the USGS Marysville gauge and be <br />used to satisfy DWR'S 1990 Delta outflow and water- <br />quality obligations to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. <br />DWR operates the State Water Project (swp). The <br />main storage facility of the SWP is Lake Oroville,located <br />about T1 mi north of Marysville. The proposal would ex- <br />change water from the Yuba County Water Agency's <br />(YCWA) New BuIlards Bar Dam, near Marysville, on the <br />North Ynba River, for Lake Oroville releases. The <br />proposed transfer is similar to the 1988 transfer of <br />122,000 acre-ft ofyCWA water to DWR for Delta outflow <br />requirements and to increase carryover storage in Lake <br />Oroville for SWP purposes in 1989. <br />The SWP delivers water to 30 major purveyors of . <br />domestic and irrigation water, including the <br />Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. <br />Water year 1990 has been designated by state officials <br />as "critically dry" for the third time in the past four <br />years, stressing state supplies and again underscoring <br />