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International

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Internatonal • Jordan, Syria negotiate

OCTOBER 19, 2006| The nations of  Syris and Jordan have entered negotiations  over disputed water inthe Yarmouk river, which has fed both counties.
Israel also has made some claims on the water.
Jordan is the river's primary water user, but Syria often has used it as well during high water periods.


TX • Huntsville gains massive water rights

OCTOBER 18, 2006| The city of Huntsville in October contracted for a firm 20 million gallons of water per day from the Trinity River Authority.
City officials said that would provide a stable and predictable water rate for years, and allow enough water for expected growth.
The city already has had a similar deal with the authority for 10 million gallons, but concluded that would not be enough and decided to double it.  [Huntsville, TX Item, October 18]


CA • Antelope  aquifer hangs in balance

OCTOBER 16, 2006| Rights to draw on the southern California Antelope Valley aquifer, and a legal boundary of the aquifer's area, is hanging in the balance as Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Jack Komar prepares to deliver a decision.
The case, seven years in development, stands to affect the water use of hundreds in the area.
Initial lawsuits in the case were developed by Diamond Farming Co.in 1999 and the Wm. Bolthouse Farms Inc. in 2001. They were asking for groundwater rights which traditionally were managed by Antelope Valley water districts and several government entities.
agencies. The companies were seeking priority rights to the water beneath their Antelope Valley farmland.
The Los Angeles Daily News quoted Tom Bunn, attorney representing water districts at Palmdale and Quartz Hill: "The main issue at the hearing was whether we could just include in this lawsuit people having rights to groundwater or if we had to include people who live in the mountains next to surface streams from which the groundwater basin gets its water. The federal government is saying we need to include those folks in order to have it be a comprehensive adjudication."


CO • Denver fields Vail-area lawsuit

OCTOBER 15, 2006| The county and city of Denver was in October hit by a lawsuit from the Eagle River area, claiming that water passed through the Vail and Eagle River areas - which Denver and parts of the Front Range are using - should properly be reserved fro the use of people in local areas.
Denver's actions in this case are not new; they stem from water rights on the Western Slope that the city purchased in the 1960s. Those rights are, however, "conditional," meaning that special usage requirements are attached to them. On a six-year schedule, the urban center has to re-justify its use of the water - and that usage is what some local Western Slope activists are challenging.
The Eagle River Water and Sanitation District  is arguing that the Denver water managers have not kept up with their proper due diligence.  Denver officials have countered that they have been developing their water use plans with an eye toward accommodating expected growth in the Denver area. West Slope officials  argue in response that Denver is in effect obtaining water for speculative purposes, a use which is not allowed under Colorado water law. [See  Vail Daily, October 15]



ID • Salmon turns to groundwater

OCTOBER 13, 2006
A project coordinator for the Upper Salmon Basin Watershed Project. said the city of Salmon is planning to move away from use of surface water toward use of groundwater, with the aim of helping salmon fish flows.
The decision is expected to affect flows in the lower Lemhi River, which passes through the city of Salmon.
Russell Knight, the project manager, said that the city already has begun transferring its rights from the Lemhi River, which is considered a critical flow for some salmon, to groundwater areas near the city. [Capitol News, October 13]

OR • Talent sells river rights

OCTOBER 10, 2006| The small city of Talent, Oregon, long has had available to it 28.4 acre feet of water, courtesy of the Talent Irrigation District. the problem is, it hasn't been using that water, and has been paying $1,713 a year to hold on to them.
So it plans to sell.
Consultants have told the city that local agricultural interests may be willing to pay $100,000 for the rights, and at a meeting in October, prospective buyers were making their presence felt already.
The city also  receives, and will maintain, other water from the Talent Irrigation District, which it continues to use for general municipal purposes. [see Medford Mail Tribune, October 9]



Notes from all over

RECREATION WATER RIGHTS A state representative and former water manager has an interesting take on Colorado recreation water rights in the Pueblo Chieftain.

TAKING ON THE MEXICO CITY FORUM A guest opinion in the Cook County News Herald of Grand Marais, Minnesota, blasted the approach taken at the March Fourth World Water Forum in Mexico City which equated water rights with human rights.
"After the first day of the meeting, however, it became clear that the government and corporate agents were only interested in turning water management into a business opportunity, whereupon the NGOs and activists established an alternative forum intent on identifying access to clean water as a fundamental right . . . If we accept the position that water is a common good, and an inalienable right shared by all people, does that mean that folks in China or France have as much right to Lake Superior’s water as we do?
Perhaps we would be better served if we didn’t use the concept of human rights to justify our control of Lake Superior’s water, but rather, focused on Cibber’s observation that possession is eleven points in the law."

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