Sharing river topic of summit

Tuesday, March 11, 2003 | 11:10 a.m.

High-level representatives from the seven states sharing water from the Colorado River will meet Thursday in Las Vegas to try to settle some of their differences.

California's water agencies have since December been negotiating on how to share the state's allotment from the river -- and a deal is a necessary step to bringing back "surplus" water for millions in both the Golden State and Nevada.

Representatives of California's water agencies and California Gov. Gray Davis, whose office is attempting to broker the deal, were coy Monday about what they hope to accomplish or announce at this week's meeting.

But since every other state and water agency along the Colorado River has at least a titular interest in what happens in California, those agencies are looking for at least an update -- if not a breakthrough -- at the Las Vegas meeting.

"I think the idea is that we're reaching something that we're ready to share with the other agencies," said Susan Giller, spokeswoman for the Imperial Irrigation District in California, one of four water agencies in that state to participate in the negotiations.

"California is hopefully close and obviously there are issues they wanted to talk about with the other agencies," said Pat Mulroy, Southern Nevada Water Authority general manager. "The purpose for Thursday is to let us know where they are at."

She said the meeting will be a closed-door discussion with the agencies at the Water Authority's offices.

A key player in the tangle of river law and interests may attend the meeting. Assistant Interior Secretary Bennett Raley, the federal government's point man on Colorado River issues, is scheduled to be on the West Coast mid-week.

Kip White, Interior spokesman, said Monday that Raley's schedule has not yet been set for the visit and it is unclear whether Raley will travel to Las Vegas for Thursday's meeting.

A resolution of the water issues in California could be key for his attendance here. The Imperial Irrigation District sued Raley and the Interior Department after the federal agency cut the district's water allotment by about 200,000 acre-feet following the collapse of the California agreement in December.

But California officials were upbeat about the confab and Raley's scheduled meeting, even if it does not extend to Las Vegas.

Still, they tempered their optimism with comparisons to previous reports of progress on the thorny thicket of Colorado River talks. Those talks have reportedly been close to resolution before, only to have new issues arise.

"Obviously, Mr. Raley's visit has to be viewed as a positive development, but we have to manage expectations here," said Byron Tucker, Davis' spokesman in Los Angeles.

Raley, he said, would likely "take a look at efforts to reach an amicable solution."

"We've overcome a lot of obstacles," Tucker said. "We feel that the state and the water agencies involved have made significant progress, enough where the governor was comfortable inviting Mr. Raley out for further talks."

Bob Walsh, the Bureau of Reclamation spokesman in Nevada, said his agency will participate in the talks scheduled Thursday. He said it is not unusual for a state to request a conference to discuss pending issues.

Vince Alberta, spokesman for the Southern Nevada Water Authority, agreed. But this meeting, as in other recent interstate meetings, is shadowed by the problems in the California talks, Nevada and California's loss of the interim surplus, and an ongoing drought that has gripped the Southwest for more than three years.

The talks in California revolve around the way the state uses about 5.2 million acre-feet of Colorado River water, about 15 times what Southern Nevada is allowed to use and 400,000 acre-feet over California's basic allotment.

Because California's water agencies were not able to find a way to divvy up their share of the river water, the Interior Department in December ruled that a previously negotiated agreement among all the river states required the federal government to cut off use of the "interim surplus," which is unused apportionment from the Upper Colorado River Basin states.

That abruptly cut off the 400,000 acre-feet of extra water used by California, but also affected Nevada, the only other state to use the interim surplus. Nevada lost about 37,000 acre-feet above its basic allotment that Las Vegas' water agencies had counted on this year.

And the Las Vegas agencies, particularly thirsty in what is shaping up to be another winter of drought, want to get that water back. The Water Authority has backup sources stored here and in Arizona, but the agency had hoped to avoid using those reserves for more than a decade.

"There's no question that we're hopeful that something is worked out in the near future," Alberta said Monday. "It would be of great value to us."

But the Southern Nevada agency cannot play a central role in a drama that will play out in California, Alberta said.

"We've kept a distance, allowed California to discuss and hopefully resolve this issue," he said.

Tucker, with Davis' office, said the meeting would be an opportunity "to move everybody to the same page." He said getting support from agencies in other states is important to solving the issue of dividing his state's river use and recovering the cushion provided by the surplus.

"Clearly, the more support we're able to procure the easier the eventual deal will be," Tucker said. "Bringing back the interim surplus is critical not just to California but the other states dependent on that."