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<br />"Westem Water Policy --From Reclamation to Restoration"
<br />University of Colorado, Boulder June 8, 1999
<br />Natural Resource Law Center's Program on Western Water Law and Policy
<br />Remarks of Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt
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<br />Like the rivers of the West, western water policy is continually changing course, meandering, eddying, and
<br />running in new channels, building by accretion on one bank while eroding the other. Sometimes, however, a stream
<br />makes a clean break, abandoning the old channel to create a new course - a process known as avulsion.
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<br />As we come to the end of this century, western water policy is now going through an avulsive change,
<br />taking us into new channels. Many of these changes are documented in the Report of the Western Water Policy
<br />Review Advisory Committee which will be discussed at this conference. The report also makes important
<br />recommendations for the future, all of which merit serious discussion. For my part, I would like to review the
<br />changes that I have been party to during this Administration.
<br />
<br />The era of the large reclamation project is winding down to conclusion. The water supplies that have been
<br />developed over the past century of reclamation are truly impressive and they should be sufficient for the next
<br />century. Our challenge is not to build more dams, but to operate them in a more river friendly way as we are now
<br />doing at Glen Canyon and Shasta. Our task is not to irrigate more lands, but to promote more efficient use of water
<br />on lands now in production. Our task is not to develop new supplies, but to make better use of those that already
<br />exist. We do have allocation and distribution problems, but they can be resolved through use of water markets,
<br />conservation and other innovations. The big task of the coming century will be to restore rivers, wetlands and
<br />fisheries.
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<br />Not everyone agrees with these views. I recall, back in 1976, when a western Attorney General signed an
<br />amicus brief in a dispute over protection of a rare desert fish found only at a place called Devil's Hole. If the
<br />Supreme Court were to rule for the pupfish and against nearby groundwater pumpers, he predicted that "Arizona as
<br />we know it today will not survive." The decision, he warned, would wreak "economic havoc" on his state, "possibly
<br />preclud[ing] future growth and development, " and make cities like Tucson "ghost towns." It would make state water
<br />rights :worthless." .
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<br />Well, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the pupfish, and Arizona; twenty-five years later, has hardly
<br />withered away. And the prophet who gave those warnings is the speaker before you today.
<br />
<br />Today I intend to show: that we can live in balance with our natural environment and how there is
<br />sufficient developed water for today and for the future, provided that we use it efficiently, and engage markets,
<br />modem science and conservation to live and develop within sensible limits.
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<br />'Well and good: you may say, 'but what about Phoenix and Las Vegas and San Diego? Aren't they running
<br />out of water? How can they continue to absorb thousands of new residents each month?
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<br />To answer .that question let me lead you to three existing water holes; water holes that can be tapped
<br />without further destruction of our environment. If I cannot induce the skeptics to drink, I can at least show them the
<br />water in confidence that sooner or later they will begin, however cautiously, to sip.
<br />
<br />Let's start with the nearest water hole - with the name of "Conservation and Efficiency." This water hole is
<br />no mirage shimmering on the far horizon: it is water already paid for and ready for delivery on demand. In Phoenix,
<br />Los Angeles and other western cities, 40 percent of the water supply is used for watering lawns and landscaping.
<br />Conservation should begin by recognizing that western cities were not meant to resemble Brazilian rainforests or
<br />suburbs of Minneapolis. If a city wants more growth it already has the water at hand by moving toward sustainable,
<br />desert friendly landscaping.
<br />
<br />In southern California the Metropolitan Water district has managed to hold water consumption level, even
<br />as the population of its service has grown by twenty percent it has managed this by pricing policies, encouraging
<br />low head showers, more efficient toilets and other water reuse practices. Pricing policies are demonstrably effective,
<br />yet many communities, including Reno, Sacramento and Fresno, still do not use water meters, thereby perpetuating
<br />the notion that water is so plentiful as to be virtually a free commodity.
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<br />There are equally large savings available in agriculture through lining of canals to prevent seepage, laser
<br />leveling of fields, pump back systems, drip irrigation systems, and effluent exchanges.
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