WSP07982

• File Number: 8021
• Description: Section D General Correspondence - Western States Water Council
• State: CO
• Basin: Statewide
• Date: 1/8/1993
• Author: Western States Water
• Title: Western States Water 1993 - Issues 973-1024
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

In the longer term, the group urges the President
to make a major comprehensive address within the
first year of his Administration incorporating the
recommendations of the report, and to create a water
task force of federal, state, and tribal governments to
develop a strategy for better coordination in the
development and implementation of national water
policy. Federal agencies should be asked to look for
opportuntties to delegate management responsibiltties,
condttioned upon compliance with federal standards,
and to study the imposttion of fees for the diversion
and use of water as a means of promoting more
efficient use of this public resource. The Secretaries
of Interior and Defense should reevaluate existing
authorized projects In light of contemporary needs
and standards, and 'should seek reauthorizations and
deauthorizations as appropriate.' The Secretary of
Interior should also conduct an ongoing federal
project contract review process, with contracts being
renegotiated to reflect contemporary water needs,
pricing for efficiency, and facilitating reallocation of
project water. The Secretary of Interior and Defense
as well as the Administrator of EPA should be asked
to develop incentives for water use efficiency and
conservation. The group notes 'reallocation of
existing supplies should be preferred as an alternative
to new storage.' Federal hydropower pricing should
reflect the full economic and environmental cost of
producing power, and revenues should be used to
assist in financing water conservation and ecosystem
protection and restoration. The group calls for a
report identifying important ecosystems and
opportunities for restoring watersheds throughout the
nation, and for the establishment of a national
restoration trust fund. The new Administration, in
consu~ation wtth the states and tribes, should
encourage and facilitate the formation of new
watershed management organizations for the purpose
of integrating water management at the 'problemshed'
level. The Departments of Interior and Agriculture
should assert rights to instream flows for federal lands
and 'encourage' states to adopt and strengthen
instream flow programs by using authority to grant or
wtthhold federal funds and certain federal permit
approvals. Also, the Administration should support
legislation that allows states and tribes to protect their
outstanding river segments against hydropower
development.

Wtth regard to clean water, the group recommends
that EPA work with the states to develop models by
which water quality and quantity concerns will be

addressed in an integrated fashion. The
Administration should also work with Congress to .
require enforceable polluted-runoff controls for
agriculture, timber harvesting, and mining in non-
compliance areas. Large dams creating water quality
problems should be subjected to NPDES permit
requirements, a clear statutory anti-degradation policy
should be enunciated and a clean water fund should
be established wtth an annual authorization of $5B
that would be available to states on a cost-sharing
basis, to use on programs of their choosing designed
to bring non-complying waters into compliance wtth
water quality standards, but tied to a requirement to
develop integrated resource plans. The group
recommends establishment of a national discharge
fee program to pay all the costs of monttoring and
enforcement, a pollution prevention program,
integrated resource planning procedures for
applicants for financial assistance, and the
establishment of basic water conservation
requirements for Clean Water Act permtts to help
extend water supply or wastewater treatment capacity.

The group proposes an end to the agricu~ural
exemption from the NPDES permit program in non-
compliance areas. It also proposes incentives to
states to develop and implement comprehensive
ground water protection programs 'wtth EPA .
assuming jurisdiction when the state fails to
implement an adequate program.' The report urges
the Administration to establish broad-based local
cttizen advisory committees organized around federal
water projects to advise federal project operation. An
interagency taskforce should be appointed to support
legislation to support locally based urban and rural
stream restoration programs, and the President
should convene summit meetings among interests in
the Colorado River Basin and the Missouri River
Basin, including state governments, Indian tribes and
cttizen groups, to explore formation of basin
organizations for including all affected interests.
Copies of the report may be obtained by contacting
the NRLC in Boulder at [phone].

PEOPLE

Dee C. Hansen, Executive Director of the Utah
Department of Natural Resources, will leave the
employment of the state to join Eckhoff, Watson and
Preator Engineering. Newly elected Utah Governor
Mike Leavitt has requested that Mr. Hansen continue
to serve as a member of the WSWC.

.

The WESTERN STATES WATER COUNCIL is an organization of representatives appointed by the Governors
of member stales - Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North
Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Washington. and Wyoming, and associate member state Oklahoma