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000717 . . Th. Dally "nfln elThurSdaY,)l.me lR, 1987 " :The Sentinel's editorials Arizonan chutzpah .Y ou've heard the classic definition of chutzpah. It has to do with the person who murders his par- ents and then throws himself upon the mercy ofthe court on the grounds that he is a suffer- ing orphan. Well, Arizona is bringing new meaning to the word. Published news reports ear- lier this week detailed how Arizona officials are fretting about federal legislation that would validate a late-1986 wa- ter rights agreement between the Southern Ute and Ute Mountain Ute Indians and a number of other parties in southwestern Colorado. The legislation was introduced by Colorado 3rd District Rep. .Ben Campbell as a means to advance the Animas-La Plata water project through Con. gress, Arizona officials have ex- pressed reservations about the bill because they are fear- ful that, once built, Animas-La Plata will capture water that currently is flowing freely into the massive Central Ari- zona Project. In other words, Arizona officials are worried about losing some free water that rightfully belongs to southwestern Colorado water :users, : Of course, Arizona lawmak- . ers, including powerful U.S, .Rep. Morris Udall, will be . quick to overlook the fact that the Animas-La Plata project was authorized by Congress in exactly the same year - 1968 ~ that the Central Arizona Project was authorized. And they will also ignore the fact that the Central Arizona Project was authorized by Congress only because the late Rep. Wayne Aspinall had been provided assurances that five Western Slope water projects, including Animas-La Plata, would be built concur- rently with the Central Ari- zona Project. Almost 20 years after all of the projects were authorized, the huge Central Arizona Project is in the process of coming on line. Meanwhile, work .continues on the Dallas Creek and Dolores projects in Western Colorado. Substan- tive construction funds for Animas-La Plata have yet to be appropriated by Congress. And the other two Western Slope water projects author- ized in 1968 - West Divide and San Miguel - are never likely to be built, Arizona's opposition to Campbell's legislation seem- ingly confirms the fears of Colorado's water develop- ment community, Namely, that if left unused, this state's Colorado River basin water entitlements will be usurped by the lower basin states of Arizona, Nevada and Califor- nia. That's chutzpah, .