The water wars of the US west, which for most of this century have pitted town dwellers against farmers, cities against cities, and made rich men of successive generations of lawyers, are drawing to a close. Under pressure from Washington, the keystones of an enduring and equitable peace are being crafted by California, long the biggest and greediest consumer, and its neighbours in the Lower Colorado Basin, Arizona and Nevada.Imaginative plans for storage,sharing, a regional free market in water-and the repair of some of the waorst environmental damage - have replaced the old profligacy, odulacy and neglect.