Seven-state deal a good first step

Progress for a thirsty west

Published February 4, 2006 at midnight

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Two-and-a-half cheers for the deal struck this week in Las Vegas by the seven states in the Colorado River Basin over water allocations.

If the Department of Interior OKs the pact, it will give the upper tier states (Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico) greater leeway to withhold discharges from Lake Powell in dry years. And it should prevent the states from suing one another or the federal government over the next couple of decades; that's usually good news for taxpayers.

But the agreement failed to move far enough toward the system that would assure uninterrupted access to water throughout the booming Southwest: the free market. Ultimately, as the region continues to grow, the compact will need to become more dynamic and allow states to implement more creative measures to satisfy water demand.

On balance, the deal boosts incentives for the thirsty, more-populous lower tier (Nevada, Arizona, California) to use water more wisely, which is surely a step forward.

Water allocations from the river were established during the 1920s, when the Southwest was sparsely populated. Problem is, as the population blossomed, annual rains and snows have not recharged the river nor delivered enough water to meet demand.

By law, the river basin states and Mexico are entitled to draw out nearly 17 million acre-feet of water each year. (An acre-foot provides roughly a one-year supply of water for two households.) But annual precipitation and runoff replenish the Colorado by only 14 or 15 million acre-feet. As a result, Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the river's primary storage facilities, are steadily drying up. Lake Mead is at 56 percent capacity; Lake Powell at 46 percent.

Even worse, California has regularly sucked out more than its yearly allotment of 4.4 million acre-feet. (It's also pertinent that 70 percent of California's Colorado River water does not quench city dwellers but instead irrigates desert farmland.)

So the Jan. 31 agreement signals progress. The good news for Coloradans is that, in dry years, the upper basin could release less than the 8.23 million acre-feet it's required to send downstream from Lake Powell. The tradeoff: In wet years, the upper tier would release more to replenish Lake Mead.

The agreement also encourages states to build more reservoirs for storage and allows bone-dry Nevada to pump well water into Lake Mead, replenishing that water resource without surrendering its allocation.

Still, states should be able to do more: to trade or sell a portion of their allocations, or import water from outside the region and sell it to states within the compact. For example, residents of Phoenix or Las Vegas might be eager to pay farmers near Palm Springs to idle their fields. But the Law of the River does not let those market forces work. Not yet, anyway.

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