No New Dams In The West
Feds Cut Off Money

from Byron Leydecker, Governor, CalTrout

Fri May 30, 2003 10:45:11 AM US/Pacific

Feds: No Money For New Dams In The West

Water Technology Online - 5/30/03

DENVER – The federal agency that built dams across the West will start a series of conferences in Denver on June 6 to discuss water supplies, but no new federally funded dams are on the agenda, according to the Rocky Mountain News.

"There is no money for building new dams," Bennett Raley, assistant interior secretary for water, said in the article[reprinted below]. Before taking the job under Interior Secretary Gale Norton, Raley was a Colorado water attorney.

"The areas where there are pressures for more water are going to be the ones that pay for the infrastructure when it is required to meet water needs," he told the paper.

Norton recently announced "Water 2025: Preventing Crises and Conflict in the West," a program to address the emerging need for more water as a consequence of explosive population growth.

In the last century, the Bureau of Reclamation dammed rivers to irrigate arid lands and generate electricity to settle the West. John Keys, the current commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, said that the mission now is to find ways to conserve water and work with state and local officials to stretch supplies.

"We were there to make the desert bloom," Keys said in the article. "We are there now to conserve that supply. We could never have enough money to solve all the problems."

After the Denver conference, meetings to get public comment on preventing water crises will be held in Phoenix, AZ; Salt Lake City; Boise, ID; Las Vegas; Sacramento, CA; Billings, MT; Albuquerque, NM; and ending in Austin, TX, on Aug. 14.

Feds Launch Water Talks With Eye On Distant Future

Rocky Mountain News – 5/30/03
by Deb Frazier, staff writer

The federal agency that built dams across the West will start a series of conferences in Denver on June 6 to discuss water supplies, but no new federally funded dams are on the agenda.

"There is no money for building new dams," Bennett Raley, assistant interior secretary for water, said Wednesday. Before taking the job under Interior Secretary Gale Norton, Raley was a Colorado water attorney.

"The areas where there are pressures for more water are going to be the ones that pay for the infrastructure when it is required to meet water needs," he said.

Norton recently announced "Water 2025: Preventing Crises and Conflict in the West," a program to address the emerging need for more water as a consequence of explosive population growth.

In the last century, the Bureau of Reclamation dammed rivers to irrigate arid lands and generate electricity to settle the West.

John Keys, the current commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, said the mission now is to find ways to conserve water and work with state and local officials to stretch supplies.

"We were there to make the desert bloom," Keys said. "We are there now to conserve that supply. We could never have enough money to solve all the problems."

After the Denver conference, meetings to get public comment on preventing water crises will be held in Phoenix; Salt Lake City; Boise, Idaho; Las Vegas; Sacramento, Calif.; Billings, Mont.; Albuquerque; and ending in Austin, Texas, on Aug. 14.

Those wanting to participate must register before the gatherings at http://www.doi.gov/water2025/conference.