Letter from the Editor

Thank you for your continued interest in Journal of Water.

As always, water industry faces critical issues that warrant attention and action. Arizona continues to move toward resolving in-state conflict so that the state can approve the DCP; California WaterFix faces another obstacle due to questions about the sufficiency of the data used to determine that it complies with the Delta Plan; a bright spot emerged in Colorado when Northern Water announced that the CBT Project ended the water  year with near normal storage levels after delivering the largest volume since 2012; and the mid-term elections resulted in a mixed bag for water and the environment.

In that light, we are happy to bring you the 2018 Summer Issue, in which JOW emphasizes its unique focus on water prices throughout the west while bringing critical insight on the important events shaping water policy.

In this issue JOW spotlights transactions that allow for a long-term lease of tribal water supplies, use markets to meet environmental needs, provide for the short-term reallocation of excess supplies through leases, and mark the start of sales from a long-standing water development project in Nevada.

This quarter, Market Indicators show market trends in the Colorado–Big Thompson Project and the Lower Rio Grande Valley.

JOW Corner covers court rulings that address the extent to which unquantified Federal Reserved Rights should be considered when designating whether another project has an adequate water supply and that discuss the question of whether the public trust doctrine could be used to reallocate water rights; an administrative ruling that builds an anti-speculation policy; progress on the proposed use of desalinated water to meet water supply needs in Orange County, California and in the Lower Colorado River Basin and Mexicali Valley; and a request from a Texas legislator that the federal government force Mexico to consistently deliver Rio Grande water to the state.

We hope you enjoy this issue of Journal of Water.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

Rodney T. Smith
Editor

 

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