Interior Secretary Gale Norton is warning state water agencies to sign an agreement to keep hundreds of billions of gallons of Colorado River flowing or face a federal cutoff.
Four agencies have until December 31st to finalize a tentative agreement that calls for water to be transferred from desert farmers to San Diego County.
If they fail to do so, federal officials have threatened to dramatically cut the state’s allotment of river water.
Norton spoke today to members of the Association of California Water Agencies at its biannual conference in Anaheim.
Three agencies have agreed to the transfer. The holdout is the rural Imperial Valley Irrigation District, which would have to give up some of its water to fast-growing urban areas.
This post was last modified on 01/31/2009 5:35 pm