Laserfiche WebLink
<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />has been aggressively seeking new supplies from the Colorado <br />River. <br /> <br />3. Consumption of Colorado River water in California has for <br />the last several years exceeded California's basic <br />apportionment of 4.4 million acre feet per year. This has <br />not yet been a problem, however, since total beneficial <br />consumptive uses of water from the mainstem Colorado River <br />in the Lower Division States have not exceeded 7.5 million <br />acre feet, the total Lower Basin consumptive use permissible <br />in "Normal" years, as defined by the Criteria for the <br />Coordinated Long-Range operation of Colorado River <br />Reservoirs. (Unintentional exceedance of this amount did <br />occur in one year. Subsequent annual operating plans for <br />the Colorado River Reservoirs have included provisions <br />requiring the payback of overruns.) This is because <br />California water users have been able to use the apportioned <br />but unused water of Arizona and Nevada. As total consumptive <br />uses in the Lower Division States approach 7.5 million acre <br />feet in "normal" years, California water use will have to be <br />reduced to 4.4 million acre feet. <br /> <br />4. Because California has been able to use the unused <br />apportionments of Arizona and Nevada, the Metropolitan Water <br />District of Southern California (~etropolitan) has been able <br />to divert the full capacity of its Colorado River Aqueduct. <br />The capacity of Metropolitan's aqueduct for the delivery of <br />municipal water to the Southern California Coastal Plain is <br />about 1.3 million acre feet per year. However, as other <br />states develop their apportionments and California is <br />required to cut back, Metropolitan will be forced to reduce <br />its deliveries closer to 550,000 acre feet per year, unless <br />transfers of water from agriculture, or from conservation, <br />are allowed. <br /> <br />5. Indian Tribes, in both the Upper and Lower Basins, <br />expect and are entitled to equity in aChieving certainty of <br />a secure water supply, and an economic future. <br />Quantification of reserved rights claims and the honoring of <br />past settlement agreements is of critical importance. <br /> <br />All of these emerging issues indicate that the demand for water <br />in the Lower Basin States is shifting from traditional <br />agricultural uses to urban uses. Growth and urban demand also <br />exists in the Upper Basin, which is why the Upper Basin has <br />sought to preserve its entitlement and economic future. <br /> <br />In response to these issues, COlorado developed an initiative in <br />1991 to pursue discussions with the ocher Colorado River Basin <br />States toward a mutually acceptable resolution of California's <br />and Nevada's long-term use of water. Such a resolution is of <br />interest to all of the Colorado ~iver Basin States. Colorado was <br /> <br />5 <br /> <br />OOO{OS <br />