The Water Information Program

Water officials are delicately working out ways to handle a "call" from downstream - the possibility that Arizona, Nevada or California will demand more water from Colorado and other upriver states. A call could clamp down on most of the people who use the Colorado River's main channel and also its tributaries, like the San Juan, Animas and Dolores rivers. That's because a call would require some people to turn off their water. Crops would die. Reservoirs and fisheries could be sucked dry. The threat of a call has brought a new dimension to water decisions in Colorado. Now more than ever, what happens in one part of the state affects every other place. State Sen. Jim Isgar thinks it's time to put conditions on new uses of water. New projects should be put on notice that they could be turned off during dry years in order to meet the compact, he said. The plan asks downstream states to look for water outside the Colorado Basin, and gives state water managers more flexibility in responding to a drought. If we overdevelop the river, which seems to be the human condition - it's happened on the Arkansas and other rivers - then we will have to pay the piper later. But a crucial paragraph in the compact gives priority to the downstream states. Their share has to be satisfied first, and the upstream states get whatever is left.

To view the full article, visit the Durango Herald. For a copy of the original article contact the WIP at (970) 247-1302 or stop by the office at 841 East Second Avenue in Durango.