Editorial: Water pact a priority

Thursday, Dec. 23, 2004 | 4:08 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

December 24 - 26, 2004

With the Southwest heading into its sixth year of drought, there is no more time for drawn-out discussions of what to do if a crisis hits sometime in the future. The future is upon us and the federal government has recognized that fact. In March the Interior Department warned the seven states that share Colorado River water that cutbacks in their allocations were a real possibility by 2005. It advised the states to prepare for that eventuality by negotiating among themselves and coming up with a plan for how they would share in the overall loss of water.

This month the Interior Department, which oversees the distribution of water from the river, told the states that the time for negotiations is running out. It imposed an April deadline. If the states don't have their plan ready by then, the Interior Department will draw up its own plan -- end of discussion.

April was chosen because by then the amount of snow that will melt into the river will be known, enabling federal officials to more precisely understand how much water they will have to work with. As there is no end in sight to the drought, however, the states will have to work on an agreement that assumes the worst, that water will remain in short supply.

To fully appreciate the complications of negotiating Colorado River pacts among states, understand that rocket science would come in a distant second if comparisons were made between the two. The states' water managers have an enormous, almost impossible, task before them to come to an agreement by April, even though they have been negotiating since March. Previously, the states have had little say over their allocations, as they have been strictly apportioned by the Colorado River Compact, which dates back to 1922. But since the drought broke out in earnest, states have been allowed by the federal government to temporarily broker deals among themselves.

An example was Nevada's deal with Arizona, finalized this month. The Southern Nevada Water Authority will pay Arizona $330 million between 2007 and 2060. In exchange, Arizona will cede, in incremental amounts over those years, 1.5 million acre-feet of its allocated river water to Nevada.

With most of the states believing they are being shortchanged on water as it stands, it will be a miracle if the states by themselves can reach agreement on how much water each one will be willing to sacrifice for the common good. To their credit, however, they are committed to giving it a try. Pat Mulroy, general manager of the SNWA, predicted legal and political battles if the states cannot agree and the federal government steps in. "There will be no winner. Every resident of every (Colorado River) basin state will say we failed."

We hope water managers in all seven states share Mulroy's understanding of the consequences if no agreement is reached by April. The drought is bad enough on its own. States fighting themselves and fighting the federal government in a classic Western water war would just add to the crisis.