Water Resources Legislation: 1999 Legislative Summary

Water management-related legislation passed by the 44th Arizona Legislature is summarized below. The general effective date of the following legislation is August 6, 1999. (The summary was prepared by the Arizona Department of Water Resources.)

HB 2463 Water Banking Amendments As part of the legislation that created the Arizona Water Banking Authority (AWBA), the Arizona Water Banking Study Commission was created to evaluate the effectiveness of AWBA's powers and duties and make appropriate recommendations to the Legislature. HB 2463 was the result of the Study Commission's recommendation and includes the following provisions: 1) Authorizes AWBA to enter into agreements with Arizona water users to provide water storage services and to administer the storage accounting thereby assisting water users to earn water storage credits; 2) Provides the AWBA the authority to loan long-term storage credits to Arizona water users for short-term use with appropriate compensation to the AWBA; 3) Allows the AWBA to earn long-term storage credits by obtaining and storing effluent if the AWBA has stored the available excess CAP water and if CAP water is not otherwise available; and 4) Expands the ability of the AWBA to provide drought prot ection for water providers that do not generally provide CAP to their customers.

HB 2262 CAGRD; Assured Water Supply allows a city, town or private water company that qualifies as a member service area of the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District (CAGRD) to meet the physically available water supply standard of the assured water supply rules by entering into a contract with the CAGRD to store water in the area where the water will be recovered from or to receive water through direct delivery from the CAGRD. First however CAGRD must submit a water availability status plan for approval by the Arizona Department of Water Resources. Following the initial submittal of a plan, CAGRD must submit subsequent plans every five years as part of its submittal of long-range plans describing the activities the CAGRD proposes to undertake to fulfill their replenishment obligations. The amount of water that may be served pursuant to these agreements is limited to no more than 20,000 acre-feet per year.

HB 2144 Drainage Water Withdrawal Permits allows water withdrawn pursuant to a drainage water withdrawal permit in designated waterlogged areas to be used or conveyed for a nonirrigation use within the designated waterlogged area. Use of the water withdrawn pursuant to a drainage water withdrawal permit is to be accounted for as surface water when determining compliance with water conservation requirements during the second and third management periods. The water must be used in a riparian habitat or at a turf-related facility such as a golf course, park or school served by a nonirrigation grandfathered right or a general industrial use permit. Rather than be levied a groundwater withdrawal fee, a user who withdraws groundwater pursuant to a drainage water withdrawal permit must pay a $500 annual fee to be deposited into the Water Quality Assurance Revolving Fund.

HB 2189 Environment; Corrections As part of a comprehensive legislative effort to address Department of Environmental Quality issues two provisions addressed matters important to water quantity management. The first applied to language in Water Quality Assurance Revolving Fund statutes that extends to the second management plan a provision that ADWR must account for groundwater withdrawn pursuant to a groundwater quality remediation in the same way as it accounts for surface water in determining compliance with third, fourth and fifth management plan conservation requirements. The second amendment clarifies that groundwater withdrawn from wells drilled to replace wells closed as a result of contamination addressed in a remedial action does not qualify for the conservation accounting break, nor does the groundwater qualify for an exemption from assured water supply accounting provisions.

SB 1150 Generating Plants; Air, Water Study was passed to address issues regarding the use of groundwater in a gas-fired power plant proposed to be located near Kingman, Arizona. This bill creates a joint legislative study committee on gas fired electrical generating plants that is directed to evaluate the effects on the aquifers and other water sources that result from the use of groundwater and surface water by such plants. The bill also directs the committee to look at air quality, revenue, taxation and economic development issues.

SB 1173 CAWCD Board; Population Basis (Laws 1999, Chapter 58) addresses the potential concern that in the 2000 census Pima County population will exceed 700,000, thereby entitling Pima County to increase its representation on the Central Arizona Water Conservation District Board from 4 to 10 directors. Representation on the board would then be equal to that of Maricopa County, when the population of Pima County is approximately one-third that of Maricopa County. This legislation maintains a 15 member board, with one seat to Pinal County, four to Pima County and ten to Maricopa County. To address proportional representation requirements, a system of proportional weighting of board votes is established based on the distribution of the population of each county.

General Appropriations bill for fiscal years 2000 and 2001 addressed two issues pertaining to ADWR. The first created a $1.2 million rural water studies appropriation for FY2000 to be used to provide state contributions to water management studies conducted in eight areas of the state. In addition, the Arizona Water Protection Fund received no appropriation, and was directed instead to use currently unencumbered funds to finance its activities for the 2000 and 2001 fiscal years.