Archived Water News Headlines | Beneficial Use; Appropriations

The archives appearing below were published in 2003 and 2004.  Please read about link decay in case a link to a news story takes you to a 404 page error or "blank" page.

Montana 
Mine water too dirty, even for turf (September 5, 2004 - The Missoulian) - Trying to find a beneficial use for groundwater from the Belmont mine ended in an experiment gone bad. According to The Missoulian, officials from the Montana Economic Revitalization and Development Institute tapped the water as a cost-saving experiment to sprinkle eleven acres of grass, only to find that the water had 11 times the level of arsenic than the EPA's recommended standards.

Wyoming 
$149 Per Fish | Winter plan for Buffalo Bill Dam modified (August 27, 2004 - The Casper Star Tribune |AP) - A proposed agreement that would expand the uses of state owned water stored in the Buffalo Bill Dam received preliminary approval from two state panels, the Tribune reported. Irrigators are concerned that they may lose their beneficial uses in terms of second fills and the start of irrigation season. If the dam is going to be used to raise fish rather than supply adequate water needs during times of drought, Select Water Committee Sen. Laness Northrup was quoted as saying that the costs of the operating agreement will work out to $149 per fish. The largest and oldest irrigation district, the Shoshone, expressed its cautious support for the plan, as long as the agreements made since 1902 continue to be honored.

Arizona 
State stashes big share of water underground (August 17, 2004 - The Arizona Republic) - Is recharging water a beneficial use, especially during times of drought? The Central Arizona Project and the Salt River Project have stored over 1 million acre-feet of water underground; combined with smaller water users, over 1.8 million acre-feet has been recharged in Arizona's aquifers or "water bank." The Republic reports that Colorado officials hinted that if the Colorado River can't meet demands in future years, they might challenge the water bank and try to force Arizona to leave the water in the river. Arizona officials doubt such a challenge would stand.

Colorado 
Anatomy of a looming water war: Will California demand Eagle County’s water? (August 12, 2004 - The Vail Trail) - Reporter Ken Neubecker writes that "The approaching threat of a Call on the Colorado River Compact is real." Drought is when the demand for water exceeds the available supply, he argues, and explains the murky problems surrounding The Colorado River Compact, the foundation of the “Law of the River." The Compact has a priority date of June 25, 1929, which is senior to many major diversions in the state of Colorado. That means that the Lower Basin States (Arizona, Nevada and especially California) may call for their senior water right on the Colorado River if the drought continues.

Washington 
Water use reform efforts could fall victim to politics (Jan 13, 2004 - The Daily Herald) - Governor Locke's commitment to reform the relinquishment law may fall by the wayside. Also known as the "use-it-or-lose-it" doctrine, the law requires water-rights holders to give up their water to the state if they haven't used it for five successive years.

California
State, foundation appeal approval of water facility (The Sacramento Bee - 09/03/03) - The Placer County Planning Commission unanimously approved a use permit Aug. 14 for Walter Harvey to bottle and export water from an existing well on his property, which is about 500 feet south of the Donner Memorial Park. The state Department of Parks and Recreation and the Mountain Area Preservation Foundation are appealing.

Related interest - Archaeologists may have found Donner Party camp (SF Gate | AP - 08/19/03)

Nevada
Denial of water for southern Nevada nuke dump urged (8/14/03 - Associated Press | Reno Gazette Journal) Don't want a nuclear dump? Deny the fed's water application. Opponents of the Yucca Mountain Project argue that the application should be denied because the DOE's use of water is not beneficial to the public interest. With no water, the dump can't be built. If Nevada denies the Department of Energy's request to tap into the state's groundwater supply, the matter will probably find its way to federal court.

Montana
Judge denies water rights in Mitchell Slough -
Storage of Public Water on Private Land Denied
By JENNIFER McKEE of the Missoulian State Bureau (8/10/03)
Mitchell Slough recently made national headlines when a group of anglers defied 80's rock star Huey Lewis' no trespassing signs. Lewis argues that the slough is a privately owned irrigation ditch, but anglers defied his wishes and tossed their lines in the ditch anyway, saying the slough is a public waterway because it is a channel of the Bitterroot River. Helena District Judge Jeffrey Sherlock ruled that a Ravalli County couple cannot divert water to store in private ponds on their land. The couple, Kenneth R. and Judith A. Siebel of Stevensville, sought rights to Bitterroot River to store it for fishing and wildlife uses on ponds on their private land.

Texas
Changing the meaning of beneficial use? Suit may alter western water policies (July 2003).
;Dianne Wassernich applied to the State of Texas for a permit to control 40 billion gallons of water each year -- enough to supply a medium-sized city. Her application was unusual, and not for municipal irrigation, stock, or other traditional beneficial uses. Instead, Wassernich intended to do nothing -- letting the water continue to flow in South Texas' Guadalupe and San Marcos rivers before spilling into the bays and estuaries that form the northern rim of the Gulf of Mexico.

Texas officials denied Wassernich's application and now she and her employer, the San Marcos River Foundation, have brought suit. Their contention is that conservation is a beneficial use.

Wassenich's application is part of emerging trend to change Western water policies by classifying conservation (or non-use) as beneficial use of river water.

Related links:

Water Pressures Inspire Creative Conservationism (Los Angeles Times - July 28, 2003)

San Marcos River Foundation