(WASHINGTON)-Interior and
western water officials will meet in Denver on June 6 for a discussion
about the reality of critical water issues in the West, Secretary Norton
told Colorado leaders today.
The Denver meeting, Water
2025: Preventing Crises and Conflict in the West, will be the first of a
series of consulting conferences in the West aimed at developing a dialog
on means of preventing chronic water supply problems facing many
communities in the coming decades.
"Locally driven, practical
solutions are needed," Norton said in remarks to Colorado Senator Wayne
Allard's Capitol Conference. "States, tribes, local governments, and
affected communities should have a leading role in this
effort."
Norton noted that water shortages in the Klamath River and
Middle Rio Grande River basins demonstrate the consequences of failing to
strategically address long-term, systematic problems caused by competing
demands for a finite water supply.
"Crisis management is not an
effective solution," she said. "We need to work together
now."
During the consulting conferences this summer, Interior and
other federal representatives will work with state and local officials,
environmental groups, tribes, and public interest groups.
The goal
is to identify the watersheds facing the greatest potential risk in the
next 25 years, evaluate the most effective ways of addressing water supply
challenges, and recommend cooperative planning approaches and tools that
have the most likelihood of success.
A report on the
recommendations of the meetings will be submitted to Secretary Norton and
other Administration officials.
Norton said her Water 2025 proposal
is a commitment to work with and support western governors and local
communities as they carry out realistic, community-based solutions
developed through these consultations.
"Interior can focus scarce
federal dollars and technical resources where they provide the greatest
benefits," she said. "But collaboration with private citizens, local and
state water agencies, and private groups will be needed, so that dialog
can take place locally to plan and invest for future
needs."
President Bush's FY 2004 budget calls for an initial
investment of $11 million for such efforts.
Significant amounts of
water can be conserved by modernizing water storage and delivery systems,
working with state and local partners to improve water management with new
technology, and targeting technical and financial assistance to help
farmers, ranchers, and municipalities make more efficient use of their
irrigation and drinking water.
Water 2025 also proposes spurring
research and concentrating investment in critically needed areas, such as
reducing the cost of desalinating sea water and impaired inland water,
providing a more affordable water source for some coastal communities
and rural and tribal communities.
The Secretary's blueprint
encourages voluntary water transfers through water banks or other water
marketing tools. These include agreements that allow agricultural
producers the option to rent or lease theirwater to cities and towns
or other users in times of drought, and stillhave the ability to farm
in most years.
The entire proposal may be found at www.doi.gov/water2025/. Information on the conferences also will be posted
to this website.