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l'l""ky.M9\l~\;IlIl Ne)'l' TI1'!"i..Oct, :~"p~9~ .., ,..~-""..'State..offl.claj':bla'sts'<~?:,. . San Luis water plan .">,, ,. , ~ .~ ~ I '."- Billion-gallon export . would be disastrous for valley, Coloradan tells Senate committee By Joan Lowy News WashiNgton Bureau WASHINGTON - A propoSal to export as much as 200,000 acre- leet 01 groundwater !rom the San. Luis Valley could have a disastrous effect on the local econemy, a Colorado environmental official told a Senate panel yesterday. "Water for irrigation is the life- .blood of the San Luis Valley," Ken Salazar, executive director 01 the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, told the Senat.e Energy and Natural Resources Commit- tee's subcommittee on water. "Without this water, the valley would become a desert," Salazar's testimony- came in support 01 legislation sponsored by Sen, Tim Wirth. D-Colo., that would prohibit the Bureau 01 Rec- - lamation Irom issuing a permit for any project to withdraw water Irom the San Luis Valley for ex- port in Colorado or another state unless the secretary 01 the interior . fmds that the project will not ad- versely affect wildlife habitat in the valley, the Great Sand Dunes National Monument or the inter- state compact apportioning water in the Rio Grande between Colora- 10, New Mexico and Texas, and Texas, The legislation would effective- . Iy make it impossible lor American Water Development Inc. to export billions of gallons 01 water annually from the valley to cities along the Front Range. "Lowering the water table in the valley could cause serious harm to the area I s resources and to its people," Wirth said, But Larry Hancock, deputy commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, told the cemmittee the Interior Department opposes Wirth.s biII as unnecessary be- cause the issue Can be resolved under state laws, "It would add more tontrols on top 01 state controls," Hancock said. "We just believe we have enough regulatory mechanisms," The position clearly annoyed Wirth, "Tbat sounds like the ad- ministration's attitude toward the S&Ls, too," Wirth responded, California's plan for river water is hypocritical, state, officials say "Tiley are suggesting tbey would reduce their use only as long as there isn't excess watef in the system," said Walker, Colorado water officials also are skeptical of California's water bank plan, whereby Western Slope larmers would keep rights to their water but could lease them to the Golden State one year at a time, They worry that it would whittle away at the agriculture-dependent economies of Western Slope towns, . Walker is a member of a com' mittee that Wedoesday futished drafting its response to the CaIi- lornia proposal.. . For years, California has been . using 1 million or more extra acre- leet annually over its annual allot- ment under the river compact, By Bill Scanlon News Environmental Writer California's proposal to change the Colorado River Compact is hypocritical because it includes a lormula that would make it easier lor excess water to gei down- stream Iree of charge, state water efficials said Wednesday. The plan - in which California would pay for its excess use of water while cutting back, by 2011, to its amount guaranteed by com- pact - is OK by itself, said Colora- do Water Conservation Board di- rector David Walker. But it's linked to a formula that . would make it easier for the Bu- reau 01 Reclamation to declare an excess water year.