Editorial: Water wars spill over in Arizona

Wednesday, Oct. 7, 1998 | 11:58 a.m.

Water has been an extremely emotional issue in the Southwest, with states bickering for years over their fair allotment from the Colorado River. But in recent years states and the federal government have tried to cool the rhetoric and examine common-sense approaches to using water in the fast-growing Southwest.

That's why it's disappointing that Arizona's Democratic candidate for governor, Paul Johnson, is distorting the facts and resorting to demagoguery regarding the possibility of Nevada securing additional water from Arizona. During a debate Sunday, Johnson said that Republican Gov. Jane Hull would be signing away Arizona's water rights if some of Arizona's unused Colorado River water was bought by Nevada.

The reality is that a number of years ago Arizona started a "water banking" system to store Colorado River water in its aquifers rather than let it run downstream to California. The U.S. Interior Department, the agency that oversees Colorado River water use, has suggested that Nevada, Arizona and California explore signing agreements with each other to store water so that it could be used by another state.

Nevada's need for water is acute. Las Vegas has experienced tremendous growth in its population, but at the same time it has the smallest allocation of Colorado River water of the three states. Arizona would not give up its water rights under the plan envisioned by Nevada. It simply would allow Nevada to buy excess water from Arizona that it is not using for its own needs.

It's too bad Johnson has chosen the low road. The white-hot rhetoric of years past hasn't gotten us anywhere close to solving the two-fold problem of growth and water in the Southwest. Level heads have been elevating the discussion recently. Hopefully this sensible approach won't be derailed by the antics of an Arizona politician.