Tucson Voters to Take on CAP

The saga of Tucson and Central Arizona Project water continues, as a successful initiative gives voters a chance to decide during the City's Nov. 7 general election on a measure to restrict Tucson's use of CAP water. Backers of the initiative collected 17,406 valid signatures, easily surpassing the required 10,938 signatures to place the measure on the ballot.

The initiative would prevent Tucson from delivering chemically treated CAP water to area homes for at least five years. Instead the city could either pump CAP water into streams and basins, irrigate with it, or pay miners and farmers to use it.

The initiative also restricts the City to using "only groundwater from unpolluted sources." Currently, water from the Tucson Airport Remediation Project, which is air-stripped to remove TCE, constitutes nearly 10 percent of the potable supply.

Initiative opponents fear it would limit legitimate options for using CAP water, increase water bills, potentially cause the city to violate state water regulations and force a shutdown of some groundwater wells.

Tucson Water commissioned a study that indicated that passage of the initiative could cost the city about $550 million. Two assumptions underlie the report: the initiative would force closure of 121 wells, cutting off 68 percent of the city's water- delivery capacity. This in turn would force the city to clean its entire CAP allocation using membrane filters partly to compensate for the loss of wells.

Supporters of the initiative say the assumptions are false. They claim the initiative would increase a typical Tucson Water user's bill by no more than $2 per month—and might even decrease it by that amount.

Opponents are weighing a legal challenge, while the City Council considers placing a rival initiative on the ballot. The less-restrictive measure would require recharging as much CAP water as possible and resolving problems of hardness and salinity.

If the initiative were to pass, its impact on use of CAP water may be minimal. Recommendations by Dames & Moore based on a study of Tucson's CAP use options call for limited deliveries of CAP-groundwater blends by 1997, with wide-spread deliveries o f CAP water phased in between 2000 and 2003.

Clean Fun Returns to Lake Havasu

Clean water and large crowds are the norm at Lake Havasu's beaches this summer. The popular resort area was plagued by high levels of coliform bacteria last summer, which forced beach closings. While no bacterial source was pinpointed, high temperature s and low water levels were suspected of contributing to the problem.

Hot weather started later this year. More importantly, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation agreed to limit releases from Parker Dam, located some 20 miles downstream, resulting in high lake levels. The improved water quality and positive publicity from MTV's coverage of spring break activities in March have combined to produce a banner year for area merchants.

Roosevelt Dam Boosts Power Output

The Theodore Roosevelt Dam is back in the hydropower business. A new turbine recently began operating, just in time to provide power to Salt River Project's customers during peak summer months. The 84-year-old dam has not been generating power since Se ptember 1992 when facilities were shut down to replace a 19-year-old turbine.

The new 50,000-pound turbine is shaped like a giant ship's propeller, with 13 large blades to harness the energy of flowing water. A large steel pipe, more than 12 feet in diameter, delivers about 2,000 cubic feet of water per second to the turbine .

The force of the water rotates the turbine, turning the generator to produce electricity. The new turbine will produce 36 megawatts of power — enough for about 10,000 SRP residential customers during periods of average electricity use.

Replacing the turbine is one part of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's $430-million dam modification project begun in 1988. The project, which is one of the largest dam-construction projects in the nation, also involved raising the height of Roosevel t Dam by 77 feet to provide 1.8 million acre-feet of flood-control and dam-safety storage and an additional 250,000 acre-feet of water-conservation storage. Work on the project is expected to be completed by early 1996.

The SRP is metropolitan Phoenix's largest supplier of electricity and Arizona's largest supplier of water. SRP's hydropower capabilities have been reduced by about one-sixth with Roosevelt Dam off-line. Horse Mesa, Mormon Flat and Stewart Mountain are other dams with hydro-generating capabilities.

Metro Water Pays Fine, Initiates Suit

The Arizona Department of Water Resources recently fined Metro Water District, which serves northwest Tucson, $3,600 for failing to log water usage during 1993 as required by state law. ADWR reduced the original fine of $14,400 after Metro officials agr eed to install meters on 36 wells. The district still could be liable for the entire $14,400 fine if any more measuring violations occur during 1995 or 1996.

In a reversal of roles, from guilty to aggrieved party, Metro Water has filed suit against the City of Tucson in a battle over customers. The suit claims the city breached an agreement made when the city sold the Metro Water Company to the district. The agreement limits the city to serving only those customers receiving city water at the time of the agreement, September 1992. At issue is the Rancho Arboleda subdivision; Tucson Water has been providing water to the 100-lot project.

In another development the Metro Water District has implemented a water conservation plan in an attempt to meet a state deadline for reducing per capita water consumption from 202 gallons per day in 1994 to the target level of 169 gallons. Failure t o meet the target consumption this year could lead to additional fines.

Water Company Faces CAP Troubles

The Arizona Water Company warns that unless current Casa Grande and Coolidge water users share the water costs of future development, the company may not continue its designation of Assured Water Supply for the area after 1999. Further, the water compan y may lose its CAP allocation.

Under current Arizona rules, the company's application for redesignation as an assured water supply provider allows the company some options for water sources for three years. To continue the designation after the three-year period, however, the company must provide half its water from a source other than groundwater.

The company now pumps 8,000 acre-feet (af) of groundwater annually in Casa Grande. If only 4,000 af were to be pumped after 1998 and a $90 replenishment tax paid for the other 4,000 af, the company would greatly increase its operating costs. Curren t rate increases could help offset such future costs, a strategy not likely to win the approval of the Arizona Corporation Commission.

If the Arizona Water Company does not continue its designation of an assured water supply, subdividers would have to join the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District. Each subdivision lot then would be taxed to pay the cost of replenishin g any excess groundwater used by occupants.

Further, company officials fear future costs may threaten its Central Arizona Project allocation. The company applied for a CAP allocation in the early 1980s with the expectation that CAP holding costs would be $7 per af. The holding cost, however, has increased to $30 per af.

Holding Coolidge's 2,000-af CAP allocation and Casa Grande's 8,800-af allocation cost $200,000 this year. The cost will increase to $300,000 next year and $400,000 the following year. Company officials believe such cost increases should be included in current water rates. But the ACC has held firm to the policy that present water users are not to pay holding costs for CAP water not currently being used.

AWC officials say the issue is a concern to all private water companies. They claim ACC is reallocating CAP out of rural communities, to the benefit of urban areas.

Illegal Dumping Pollutes Public Lands

Add one more use to the multiple uses of U.S. Forest Service lands: the illegal dumping of hazardous materials. With hazardous waste becoming more difficult and expensive to dispose of legally, more westerners are dumping materials on U.S. Forest Servic e lands.

For example, last spring someone dumped several drums of cleaning fluid in the Verde Valley within the Coconino National Forest in central Arizona. Some 30 cubic yards of contaminated soil needed to be removed, at a cost of $20,000, to keep the chem icals from seeping into the nearby Verde River.

The number of such crimes is increasing. Coconino National Forest officials reported 10 incidents of illegal dumping of hazardous materials in 1994. Officials investigated five additional incidents during the first three month of 1995. While nearb y Prescott National Forest averaged one illegal dumping incident per year a few years ago, at least five such incidents were reported last year.

Incidents of illegal dumping of hazardous materials are occurring more frequently because of stricter regulations about what local landfills can accept. The 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and its 1984 amendments disallowed many material s that landfills previously accepted, such as solvents, paints and old lead batteries. Also, municipalities are charging more to dispose of household waste to offset costs of meeting new federal landfill standards.

Officials suspect that the typical dumper is an individual with several years' accumulation of old paint products, garden pesticides, and engine fuel. Officials also believe that some owners of small businesses illegally dump hazardous materials to avoid the increasing cost of proper disposal.

Illegal dumping occurs more frequently in forests located near urban areas. Disposed materials often include used motor oil, paints, cleaning solvents, gasoline and asbestos-contaminated roofing shingles. The hazardous materials pose various enviro nmental problems including contaminating groundwater and wells.