Lujan Urges Local Control of Water

The federal government should explore the possibility of turning over some water projects to state and local control, Secretary of the Interior Manuel Lujan said Thursday.

In a speech to an American Bar Assn. conference on water policy, Lujan said, “My goal . . . is to allow states and local entities the greatest freedom possible in using and protecting their resources.

“To that end, I believe we should be more aggressive on pursuing opportunities to transfer the operation--and, yes, ownership--of federal water facilities to our nonfederal partners,” he said.

Lujan noted that President Bush, in his State of the Union address last week, “spoke with great conviction about the merits of turning over the control of federal programs to states, the local governments, and to the people.

“I believe federal water management should be no exception,” he said.

Lujan told a group of about 200 gathered at the Sheraton Harbor Island East hotel that, at Gov. Pete Wilson’s request, he is appointing James F. Spagnole, his director of congressional affairs, to Wilson’s drought task force.

“As populations continue to grow, we face the very real prospect that water shortages will become the norm, rather than temporary problems that can be solved with a season or two of normal snowpack and rainfall,” the secretary said.