The Black Canyon of the Gunnison needs a good scrubbing. Ever since 1965, when the first of three dams blocked the Gunnison River upstream of the western Colorado national park, the 2,000-foot-deep canyon has missed the regular spring floods that are necessary for its ecological health. But more regular spring cleanings are on the way. Thanks to a mostly finalized agreement between the National Park Service, the state of Colorado and environmental groups, the Black Canyon will get an annual peak-flow event - a one-day manmade flood - plus 85 days of high flow timed to coincide with spring runoff. The rest of the year, the river will have a minimum flow of 300 cubic feet per second to help sustain its world-class trout fishery. The agreement is the product of more than three decades of litigation hinging on one of the most contentious questions in Western water law: Does the federal government have the right to water for federally owned lands. 

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