Colorado River QSA Signed -- October 17, 2003 -- California Capitol Hill Bulletin -- Volume 10, Bulletin 30

Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton, on Thursday, October 16, held a ceremony at the Hoover Dam in Nevada to approve the Quantification Settlement Agreement (QSA) controlling the allocation of Colorado River water among four California agencies. After years of negotiation, the QSA has been approved by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, the San Diego County Water Authority, the Coachella Valley Water District, and the Imperial Irrigation District (IID). Among other things, it controls IID's sale of up to 200,000 acre-feet of water annually to San Diego over the next 75 years. IID is also protected from shouldering the burden of cleaning up the Salton Sea, and the State of California will implement a restoration plan for the Sea. For further details regarding the plan, see, Bulletin, Vol. 10, No. 25 (9/12/03).

The plan will allow California to phase in the reduction of the Colorado River water it uses over the next 15 years. California is allocated 4.4 million acre-feet (maf) of Colorado River water, but has taken as much as 5.2 maf annually. Now that neighboring states such as Arizona and Nevada require their full allocation of water, California must reduce its take.

Governor Gray Davis joined Secretary Norton at the signing ceremony. Many state and federal officials, including Rep. Ken Calvert (Corona), Chairman of the House Resources Water and Power Subcommittee, praised the agreement.

To expand communications between Washington and California, the California Institute provides periodic bulletins regarding current activity on Capitol Hill that directly impacts our state. Bulletins are published weekly during sessions of Congress, and occasionally during other periods.

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