CA
No settlement, no giving up either
APRIL
22 | Settlement efforts in the long-running San Joaquin river
litigation in central California won't
be ending soon, participants indicated last week. That came
as a disappointment to some participants hoping the future of more
tha n10,000 farms in the area might be resolved; but it also signalled
a willingness to continue the conversation with an eye to a solution
that might be in sight.
The
participants in the talks include the Natural Resources Defense
Council and the local Friant Water Users Authority; the U.S. Bureau
of Reclamation almost certainly would have a hand in any final determinations.
The
dispute grows out of concern by the Council that enough water be
set aside for fish, and a 1983 lawsuit over that subject. It has
turned into a battle over water rights, however, and determination
of how much can be set aside for fish. [see Capital Press,
April 21]
TX
Allegations
of fraud blow up water talks
APRIL
22 | A massive water agreement reached in late March may
have been sundered in mid-April when a water district official
asked a city council - the two entities are parties to the agreement
- " did the city enter into the contract in a fraudulent manner?
The
deal involves purchase of as much as 5.5 billion gallons (over the
next two decades) by the city of Sugar from the Fort Bend County
Water Control and Improvement District No. 1.
District board member Leon Anhaiser said the city is quietly challenging
the district's rights to the water, and said the city is planning
to ask the Texas Legislature for a measure which would allow it
to annex and dissolve the water district.
City council members later said that they did have in mind the dissolution
of the district, and felt compelled to negotiate with it. However,
one said he understood that if the district were dissolved, the
water rights would return to the state of Texas. [see Fort Bend
Now, April 22.]
WA
Tri-city
water deal hatched
APRIL
21 | One of the most valuable pieces of property in the Olympia,
Washington area is the old Olympia brewery at the neighboring city
of Tumwater. It was valuable not least because of the large water
rights the Olympia brewery controlled, and when that company shut
the plant down, the future of those water rights became one of the
region's big unanswered questions.
The buyer of the plant, All American Bottled Water, had need of
a considerable supply of water, but not nearly as much as its beer-making
predecessor had used.
For several weeks officials from Olympia, Tumwater and a third nearby
community, Lacey, met with officials from All American, and this
week released a tentative agreement. It still requires approval
from city councils and from state regulators.
The
agreement calls for joint purchase by the cities of all of the former
brewery's water rights, with an agreed guarantee to All American
to supply its water needs out of the overall supply. The cities
would pay $1,750 per acre foot of water. The state Department of
Ecology has estimated about 7,000 acre-feet may be available, but
All American suggested the amount may be smaller. The water would
be transferable in the future, and All American's right to it would
rely on its use of it; failure to use it over a protracted period
would lead to its forfeiture by the company.
The deall apparently puts to rest what had appeared to be a major
lawsuit in the making, when the city of Olympia on February 13 filed
to condemn All American's water right claims. [see the Olympia
Olympian, April 22]
CO
Recreation
rights stave off change
APRIL
19 | Colorado recreation groups continue to stave off agricultural
attempts to throw sharp limits around the amount of water which
can be held as rights for recreation purposes.
The
measure sought by farm interests is Colorado Senate
Bill 37, which critics say would givewater right now used for
recreation - most notably kayaking - into a limited and secondary
status. The measure passed the Senate, but controversy developed
over the last couple of months, and the measure appears to be on
hold in the House. Efforts at compromise were, however, underway
by mid-April. [see the
Sterling (CO) Journal-Advocate, April 18]
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