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ByKenRitter The Associated Press LAS VEGAS Facing dwin- dling water supplies, West- ern states are struggling to capture every drop with dam and diversion projects that some think could erode regional cooperation cru- cial to managing the scarce resource. Against that backdrop, eight Western governors meeting in Las Vegas this weekend will address re- gional water issues, and water managers from seven states arrive next week to work on ways to ensure 40 million people in the parched Colorado River ba- sin don't go thirsty. Gary Wockner, a conser- vationist with the Denver- based advocacy group Save the Colorado, said there's al- ready jostling amid the fear of empty buckets. "Every- one is trying to get the last legal drop of water," he said. Colorado River Water Us- ers Association representa- tives deny there's discord at their table. "Fifteen years of drought has tightened everything. But I don't see this as people are getting ready to fight," said Jeff Kightlinger, gen- eral manager of the Met- ropolitan Water District of Southern California. That agency is dealing with a double-whammy — drought on the Colorado River and in the Sierra Nevada and Northern California. Nevada Gov. Brian San- doval will host Western Governors' Association counterparts from Colo- rado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming this weekend to consider several issues, including water. Two days of drought workshops follow. "The motto is: We save the system as a whole," said Pat Mulroy, longtime gen- eral manager of the South- ern Nevada Water Author- ity in Las Vegas and now a senior policy fellow with the Brookings Institution. "If we get into, 'I'm going to win,' and, 'You're going to lose,' there won't be a win- ner," Mulroy said. But Wockner said Colo- rado, Wyoming and Utah are considering dams and diversions in the mountains to capture water they're en- titled to before it reaches the Colorado and flows to the deserts. New Mexico has plans to divert and store water from the Gila River for cities and farms before it flows into Arizona and empties into the Colorado River near the Mexico border. "Diversions extract water from the system," said Jack Schmidt, professor of water- shed sciences at Utah State University. He just com- pleted three years study- ing the Grand Canyon for the U.S. Geological Survey. "More water use and more water retention in the up- per basin means less water flowing through the Grand Canyon to the lower basin." Schmidt referred to the Colorado River Compact of 1922 and agreements with Mexico that promise about 16.5 million acre-feet of wa- ter annually from a river system that has historically taken in about 15 million acre-feet from rainfall and snowmelt. But that amount has diminished during al- most 15 years of drought. One acre-foot of water is about enough to serve two average Las Vegas homes for a year. "You could say that we decided how to divide the pie, but the pie is smaller than anybody thought," Schmidt said. "With climate change, it is even smaller than that." In Las Vegas, which vir- tually relies on water from Lake Mead, officials are making plans to add a $650 million pumping facility to draw from the reservoir even if levels drop below 1,000 feet above sea level. That's the line at which Hoover Dam's hydroelec- tric turbines would be idled. The Southern Nevada Water Authority already is drilling an $800 million tunnel to tap water from the bottom of the lake, at 860 feet above sea level. At 900 feet — so-called "dead pool" — the river would end at Hoover Dam. Nothing would flow down- stream. The lake reached its high water mark in 1983 at 1,225 feet. The Metropolitan Wa- ter District's Kightlinger said the seven basin states — Colorado, Utah, Wyo- ming and New Mexico up- stream and California, Ar- izona and Nevada down- stream — have a history of cooperating, and they have forged several landmark agreements. A 2012 amendment to a 70-year-old treaty between the U.S. and Mexico has the river flowing south of the border again. Last summer, water agen- cies in Denver, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix be- gan an $11 million pilot pro- gram with the federal gov- ernment to pay farmers, cit- ies and industries to cut use of Colorado River water. The goal is to prop up Lake Mead, which stood Friday at 1,084 feet above sea level — just 9 feet above the crucial 1,075 level that would trigger cuts to Ari- zona, Nevada and Califor- nia. The federal Bureau of Reclamation this week pro- jected a better than 50 per- cent chance that it will de- clare such a shortage in Jan- uary 2017. The Central Arizona Proj- ect would face the first cut- backs, and farmers would be hit hardest, agency chief David Modeer said. "Hoping for snowpack is not sufficient to solve this," Modeer said. "It's going to take cooperation and sacri- fice among all of us to stave off disaster in the river." DROUGHT Water woes among topics for 8 governors in Vegas JULIEJACOBSON—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE The high water mark for Lake Mead is seen on Hoover Dam and its spillway near Boulder City, Nev. By Don Thompson The Associated Press SACRAMENTO California's Senate leader and one of the state's top environmen- tal officials are heading to Peru to tout the state's ef- forts to combat global cli- mate change. "I think it demon- strates the role that Cal- ifornia and other sub-na- tional actors are playing" in leading climate change policy, California Environ- mental Protection Agency spokesman Alex Barnum said Friday. Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon plans to speak at several events during United Nations- sponsored climate talks, which are drawing delega- tions from more than 190 nations. De Leon is participat- ing in a joint event by the California and the Mexi- can governments, months after Gov. Jerry Brown signed a non-binding agreement with its south- ern neighbor to jointly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen fuel- and truck-efficiency standards on both sides of the border. Another event is with the Chinese delegation, more than a year after Brown signed the first agreement be- tween a U.S. state and China that seeks greater cooperation on clean-en- ergy technologies and re- search. De Leon, a Democrat from Los Angeles, also is participating in dis- cussions on pricing car- bon emissions. Califor- nia launched its cap-and- trade program three years ago, imposing extra costs on businesses that emit pollutants. The program will be expanded next year to include companies that produce gasoline and other fuels, prompting pre- dictions that consumers will see a spike in prices to cover the costs. The Senate leader also plans to discuss the state's efforts to promote elec- tric and other zero-emis- sion vehicles while he is in Lima, Peru, next week. The conference is intended to prepare the way for a global emissions agree- ment to be considered in Paris next year. It's his first official foreign trip since becoming leader in Octo- ber. California already is op- erating under a landmark law that requires reduc- tions of greenhouse-gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Brown has said he will seek even tougher restrictions next year. The governor is not at- tending the conference, but he is sending Environ- mental Protection Secre- tary Matt Rodriquez and Ken Alex, director of the governor's Office of Plan- ning and Research, among other officials. They will leave over the weekend. PERU State delegation attends climate change talks By Tami Abdollah The Associated Press LOS ANGELES Police body cameras have become a ral- lying cry in the wake of ra- cially charged decisions by grand juries in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York City, but experts caution that increased use of the de- vices may raise more ques- tions than answers. Often what is filmed may appear excessive to a per- son unfamiliar with police work, even though the con- duct may be legal. "There's this saying in policing: 'It's lawful, but awful.' It's technically legal to do that, but it's a terri- ble thing to do ... We have to work on the awful piece, that's what we need to fo- cus on," said Jim Bueer- mann, who heads the non- profit Police Foundation. Officers in one of every six departments around the country now patrol with tiny cameras on their chests, lapels or sunglasses. And President Barack Obama wants to spend $74 million to equip another 50,000 with them around the country. A camera captured a white New York police of- ficer applying a chokehold that led to the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man. In Ferguson, Mis- souri, there was no camera showing what happened when a white police officer fatally shot Michael Brown, a black man. In both cases, grand ju- ries declined to indict the officers. Many law enforcement officials support cameras' use and say they are effec- tive. The police department in Rialto, California, found af- ter a yearlong University of Cambridge study last year that the cameras led to an 89 percent drop in com- plaints against officers, pos- sibly reining in misbehav- ior on the part of the public and officers as well as ulti- mately limiting department liability. "If it were up to me, every officer walking around in a uniform would be wearing a body camera," said Martin J. Mayer, a California-based attorney who has defended law enforcement agencies for more than 40 years. Most civil libertarians support their expansion despite concerns about the development of policies gov- erning their use and their impact on privacy. Rank- and-file officers worry about being constantly un- der watch, or that an errant comment may be used by a supervisor to derail their careers. Officers, however, gener- ally have the law on their side. A 1989 U.S. Supreme Court case concluded that claims an officer used exces- sive force must be judged by whether the officer's actions were " 'objectively reason- able' in light of the facts and circumstances confronting them" at the time. With video evidence, "we're being forced to con- front exactly what these le- gal standards mean," said Peter Bibring, a staff attor- ney for the ACLU of South- ern California. "It provides the public a much better foundation to draw their own conclusions about what police are actually do- ing, and whether they be- lieve it's appropriate." Camera footage provides an independent record from the officer's perspective and tangible evidence that can- not be changed, unlike of- ten malleable and faulty eyewitness accounts, ex- perts say. But video is lim- ited, only showing what's in front of it after the camera is turned on. LAW ENFORCEMENT Police cameras are no panacea, experts say IL — DAMIAN DOVARGANES An on-body police video camera is clipped to a Los Angeles Police officer's glasses during a demonstration for media in Los Angeles. The Associated Press RENO, NEV. Mid-week storms dumped nearly 2 feet of snow on the upper el- evations around Lake Tahoe, where Sugar Bowl opens for its 75th season on Saturday and ski resorts up and down the Sierra are feeling much better about conditions than they did a week ago. Mount Rose Ski Resort, which reported 18 inches of new snow southwest of Reno, was among those that opened access to the top of their slopes for the first time this week. "This storm has been the good old-fashioned Sierra storm we've been waiting for, one that helps to build a fantastic base that will keep our guests skiing and riding all season long," said Mike Pierce, Mount Rose's mar- keting director. Northstar California, along U.S. Interstate 80 near Truckee, opened 12 ad- ditional trails on Thursday after reporting 31 inches of new snow on the upper runs over the six previous days. "We're thrilled," North- star Vice President Beth Howard said. "Conditions are great." On the Tahoe's south shore, Heavenly Mountain Resort reported 20 inches of snow throughout the week, allowing for the opening of its premier runs serviced by the Big Dipper express lift. "We began making snow on Big Dipper a week ago, and this storm brought us that last little bit we needed to be able to open it to guests," Heavenly Vice Pres- ident Pete Sonntag said. Just before the storm ar- rived, the Sierra Nevada snowpack was at just 24 per- cent of normal for this time of year. The early snow is a welcome change for ski op- erators who last year had to lean heavily on man-made snow. "We are way ahead of where we were last year," said Bob Roberts, execu- tive director of the Califor- nia Ski Industry Associa- tion. "People are pretty ex- cited." RECREATION Nearly 2 feet of snow boosts Sierra ski resorts Tehama Estates Theareas#1SeniorHousingProvider SeniorRetirementApartments findusonFacebook 750DavidAvenue,RedBluff 527-9193 www.tehamaestatesretirement.com Do you know a senior that has been displaced from their home by the flooding? During this difficult time, Tehama Estates wishes to help any senior in need of tempo- rary housing by offering furnished shelter, hot meals and other services for a modest cost. Pleasecallorstopbyformoreinformation MedicalRecords Supervisor RedBluff ExcellentpayandBenefits Join our friendly team. Apply in person at Brentwood 1795 Wa ln ut St. in Red Bluff or call Dan at 530-527-2046 NeedaDoctor? Wehavetherightoneforyou. 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