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<br />GREATER' DE.NVER...... '\ I
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<br />Rob Reuteman. City Editor. 892-5381 . .
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<br />
<br />California.l
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<br />
<br />Romer offers water to
<br />
<br />In exchange, governor
<br />
<br />wants promise Colorado
<br />
<br />will not lose what it
<br />
<br />doesn't put behind dams
<br />
<br />By Bill Scanlon
<br />News EnviroNmental Writer
<br />
<br />Colorado' will send water to
<br />drought-stricken Los Angeles if
<br />California agrees to scale back -
<br />over the next several years - the
<br />amount of water it takes from the
<br />Colorado River, GOv, Roy Romer
<br />proposed to California Gov. Pete
<br />Wilson yesterday,
<br />Romer is trying to ease Califor-
<br />nia's drought in return for guaran-
<br />teeing Colorado's future. He
<br />wants assurances that Colorado
<br />. not be rushed into water-storage
<br />projects, that it be guaranteed
<br />3,75 million acre feet from the
<br />Colorado River forever even if it
<br />doesn't need that much for 100
<br />years.
<br />"We don'i want to be forced
<br />into premature development just
<br />to protect the water," said Romer,
<br />IUWe want guarantees that we can
<br />take time to develop water in an
<br />environmentally sound way."
<br />But several observers ques..;
<br />tioned why California would agree
<br />to such a bargain, The water
<br />would come from Lake Mead in
<br />Nevada, 500 miles downstream
<br />from the Colorado border, Romer
<br />believes Colorado can dictate the .
<br />fate of water the state is entitled
<br />to, but doesn't u~e, even if it's
<br />stored somewhere else.
<br />"We're pleased about any offer
<br />of help," said Wilson's deputy
<br />press secretary James Lee, who
<br />added that the governor hasn't had
<br />a chance to review the merits of
<br />the plan, Wilson is in Mexico,
<br />California recognizes that it is
<br />going to have to serve more pe<>-
<br />pie. with less water because for a
<br />long time it hadn't planned ade-
<br />quately . for droughts, Lee said,
<br />The specter of less Colorado River
<br />water in the future is part of that
<br />long-range planning, he said.
<br />
<br />
<br />Under a proposal by Gov, Roy Romer, extra water from Colorado would be stored in Lake. Mead;
<br />backed up behind Hoover Dam near the Arizona-Nevada border, and sent to thirsty California, I
<br />
<br />;0 .. . P .&''V'.- ~.. ..~
<br />. RIYE'I'PACT'FACTS,',
<br />;.~Rikr~ 12,!6';t
<br />.. miillonacreYeetofWater,iiyear ; "
<br />do 22.mlllion people 1~.1 statel;,
<br />. . The river eontalllS,rO%,ofCol-!4
<br />'. oRido'sSUrtace stiii8m 'Plume," '
<br />, . Wtiter ilUllrili\tties,!)a5ed on .'
<br />,}he 19~COlorado RiII~e6m-, flf
<br />'pact.,lnac;releet, . ",'/" . . </ ..
<br />. c......'an\uN.an ,'" "'.""~ ,.
<br />'\~:'J:~~j"l6.':'-}. ,
<br />;New.CO:4~,OOO fj I.'
<br />\'C.....IiiIa:4,4milllon i" .'
<br />,;~.:.~~oir''','" '.
<br />MeidCii': I inliliiii> ....
<br />,~ :.,...;.~ A ,~: ;\$j.? .!:-t
<br />
<br />Under the 1922 Colorado River
<br />compact. California is entiUed to
<br />4.4 million acre feet of water year-
<br />ly, Lately, it has been using 5.2
<br />million acre feet because the U p-
<br />
<br />per Basin states of Colorado, Wyo-
<br />ming, New Mexico and Utah don't
<br />use all of their entitlements,
<br />Five years of drought have
<br />drained California reserves. The
<br />Metropolit.an Water District of
<br />Southern California, which serves
<br />several million people, will be
<br />short of water unless Lake Mead
<br />releases 400,000 acre feet.
<br />Romer says he can be a good
<br />neighbor and do Colorado some
<br />long-term good at the same time.
<br />But California could nix Romer's
<br />plan and get the water anyWay -
<br />because the federai government
<br />would release the water before
<br />allowing Los Angeles to go dry,
<br />some wat.er lawyers contend.
<br />Not necessarily. says Colorado's
<br />'governor, The White House wants
<br />to stay out of the argument, said
<br />Romer, who met with President
<br />Bush's assistants last week, It may .
<br />
<br />be so appreciative of Colorado's I
<br />leadership that it will pressure
<br />California to accept the d~aJ '- _I
<br />{ "It's in our self-intertst to work
<br />something out that will get Califor-
<br />nia to live within its entitlement,"
<br />Romer said yesterday, "If we
<br />don't do this, history might over-
<br />'whelm us, and the water will be
<br />gone anyway."
<br />Water supplies of less than 70%
<br />of normal are expected this sum. I
<br />mer in California, Ne\"'~(i;' m-osl'6T
<br />Utah and Oregon; . eastern Wy<>-
<br />ming, northwestern Colorado, and I
<br />northwestern and centrlil Arizona,
<br />said William Richards. chief of the I
<br />Soil Conservation Service. I
<br />Jim Lochhead, the governor's
<br />representative. on the Colorado I
<br />River ConunisslOn, saId no aIle ill
<br />/
<br />See RIVER on ~ II
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