Archived Water News Headlines | Ownership of Water; Cost of Use

The following news headlines and archives cover portions of 2003 and 2004. You might discover decayed links in some of the archives.

California needs drinking water, and the private sector wants to help. But commercial desalination can't begin until far-reaching issues of who will profit from seawater are resolved. (Pioneer Press, 3/21/04).

Washington Land deal mostly about water (The Tacoma News Tribune, 3/17/04) - Tacoma Water officials have allied with a coalition of environmental conservation groups to buy 302 acres of forest in the upper Green River watershed, the source of most of the city's drinking water. Tacoma Water will contribute $350,000 to the nearly $2 million purchase price of the Plum Creek Timber Co. land. The property lies on a steep slope east of Sawmill Creek, a tiny Green River tributary. A permanent conservation easement will prevent logging on the site, which includes patches of virgin timber and many other 80- to 100-year-old trees. The transaction gives the city title to the land, which is adjacent to other city-owned property surrounding the Green River. Tacoma Water Superintendent Ken Merry said the acquisition will help protect the quality of city water.

Proposal for water is rejected (The Salt Lake Tribune, 3/16/04) - Who owns waste water? A plan by a Western Water, LLC (not associated with this Internet domain) to gain title to about 94 billion gallons of "wasted" water in the Jordan River/Utah Lake watershed was rejected by the Utah state engineer. Western Water claimed that 288,000 acre-feet of water were going to waste into the Great Salt Lake each year and proposed capturing the water at various points within the watershed and from the Jordan River, then conveying it to the Cedar Valley, where it would be stored underground to be made available later to farmers and to 60,000 residences.

Water broker battles counties for rights (New Mexico Business Weekly, 3/5/04) - In 1968, New Mexico, particularly the parched southwestern portion of the state along the Gila River, got the rights to 18,000 acre feet of water through a complex series of agreements negotiated into the $3 billion federally-funded Central Arizona Project. In the intervening years, New Mexico has never used a drop of that water. But now, as Arizona pushes Congress to resolve some of its remaining water issues, New Mexico is looking to finally use its allotment. However, the push to finally use that water is shaping up as a battle between private enterprise and government as to who will get the rights to use it.

Rancher, feds in water feud: Arizonan may face jail for shooting copter's bucket (Arizona Republic - 8/29/03) - Does the federal government have the right to take water from private property without compensation? This Arizona rancher thinks he should be reimbursed for water taken from his stock pond during a recent fire.