Are existing practices flexible enough? (Draining the West? studio discussion)

Studio discussion -- Are existing practices flexible enough?

Do existing laws, regulations, and practice offer the flexibility to meet new demands for water? Surprisingly, many people involved in the issues think so.

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Jeff Fassett
Former Wyoming State Engineer, Fassett currently runs an engineering consulting firm based in Cheyenne, WY

Wyoming state law recognizes that water in the streams can be considered a beneficial use.

David Getches
Raphael J. Moses Professor of Natural Resources Law at the University of Colorado School of Law

We have a changing target when we're talking about priorities.

John Keys
Commissioner for the Bureau of Reclamation

I can't count the number of times down the river . . . there's ways to do it around the water rigthts.

Laird Lucas
Attorney

What is the Bureau of Reclamation doing . . . so we can have more water in stream for fish?

Keys/Lucas exchange

To leave water in-stream is a state issue.

Norm Semanko/John Keys exchange
Semanko: Executive Director and General Counsel, Idaho Water Users Association

We went back to basic science.

Bruce Newcomb
Speaker of the House, Idaho Legislature

I'd like to . . . talk about the instream flows and the state primacy that we had here in Idaho. For example, the Lemhi situation where we had 60 day notices sent out -- but we were able under the Endangered species act and the prior appropriation doctrine to negotiate agreements between willing seller and willing buyer and get a minimum stream flow.

Meredith Taylor
Yellowstone Program Director, Wyoming Outdoor Council

What tools do we as concerned citizens, conservationists, outfitters for fly fishing, recreationists, have available to us if the laws are in place and yet the instream flow is not being enforced on the river systems so that we can continue to enjoy those headwaters and see them flow to the sea in the future?

Jeff Fassett
Former Wyoming State Engineer, Fassett currently runs an engineering consulting firm based in Cheyenne, WY

I'm an advocate for further change to the law.

Taylor/Fassett exchange

Are we favoring industry over instream flow and why is that?

David Getches
Raphael J. Moses Professor of Natural Resources Law at the University of Colorado School of Law

If you leave it in the stream, there's no evidence that you're actually putting water to beneficial use.

Clive Strong
Chief, Natural Resources Division, Office of the Idaho Attorney General

We can manage water in a number of ways, to achive a multiplicity of purposes.

Jeff Fassett
Former Wyoming State Engineer, Fassett currently runs an engineering consulting firm based in Cheyenne, WY

Collaboration is the only way to wrestle with Endangered Species issues.

Marti Bridges/John Keys exchange
Bridges: TMDL (total maximum daily load) program manager, Idaho Department of Environmental Quality

The state of Idaho has only 400 miles of instream water rights approved -- that's less than half a percent of the over a hundred thousand miles of streams.

Clive Strong
Chief, Natural Resources Division, Office of the Idaho Attorney General

I would say that the state law process in Idaho has worked.

Rick Johnson/Jeff Fassett exchange
Johnson: Executive Director, Idaho Conservation League

Water in the west has never been a win-win situation for anybody. And it seems that we are headed for . . . a public policy train wreck.

John Keys
Commissioner for the Bureau of Reclamation

If you throw everything in the ashcan, you throw away the infrastructure that guarantees the water that we all depend upon.

Brian Wallace
Chairman for the Washoe Tribe of Nevada

In context of Indian Water Rights, it appears that the tools that we have to sort these issues out, and the environment that we are working in are doctrinally conflictive—in case of the trustee—to uphold the public trust and the Indian trust puts it in somewhat of a conflict of interests with very difficult choices . . .

David Getches
Raphael J. Moses Professor of Natural Resources Law at the University of Colorado School of Law

Most groundwater is connected to a stream underground.
How do our doctrines serve the past, and how can they serve the present? [The point is] not to let go of the tradition, but to find the flexibility in it.

Jeff Fassett
Former Wyoming State Engineer, Fassett currently runs an engineering consulting firm based in Cheyenne, WY

You need to use "prior use" to serve new purposes.

Kay Brothers
Deputy General Manager of Southern Nevada Water Authority Engineering and Operations

Water banking has provided the flexibility . . .

Wendy Wilson
Organizational development consultant, River Network; Lobbyist and spokesperson for environmental causes

I'm interested in getting water back in streams and ensuring rivers have water rights for many purposes . . . Why aren't we requiring that every time a water right is transferred from an irrigation to municipal use that the fish, the birds, the wildlife, the Indians all get a 25% kickback . . .

David Getches
Raphael J. Moses Professor of Natural Resources Law at the University of Colorado School of Law

The most effective way to get water in the streams is through federal regulation.

John Keys
Commissioner for the Bureau of Reclamation

We can craft how we move water.

Jeff Fassett
Former Wyoming State Engineer, Fassett currently runs an engineering consulting firm based in Cheyenne, WY

We're finding out that our law isn't enough.

Getches/Keyes exchange

I think the era of the big dam is over . . . conservation and controlling the way we use water can more than double the available supplies.

Jeff Fassett
Former Wyoming State Engineer, Fassett currently runs an engineering consulting firm based in Cheyenne, WY

The challenge will be continued growth.

Getches/Keys/Brothers exchange

Set a large table, and expect everybody to stay there until the problem is solved.