Conference Celebrates Sonoran Desert Cultures

A day-long session discussed traditional agricultural methods, ethnobotany, and water use. A speaker described agriculture in a region of the Pinacates in Sonora, where crops are successfully raised without supplemental irrigation on less than 4 inches of rainfall per year. Other farms in the same region were unable to irrigate successfully because of the high cost of irrigation systems. Traditional successful farming practices (including dryland farming as well as irrigation) of the Pima Indians also were discussed.

An in-progress study was described looking at the history of human impacts on Arizona rivers. The impacts include such activities as groundwater pumping, diversions, dams, introduction of exotic plant species, urban development and livestock grazing.

This was the third annual conference of the International Sonoran Desert Alliance, an offshoot of the Sonoran Institute in Tucson. The Water Resources Research Center co-sponsored the event. To be included on the mailing list for next year's conference, contact the Sonoran Institute, 520-290-0828.

Ak-Chin Water Leased for Development

Water needed for a proposed Del Webb development at New River could come from the Ak-Chin Indian Community. Del Webb has purchased an option to lease up to 10,000 acre-feet of water a year from the community for 100 years.

The U.S. Department of Interior has approved the lease, and it is an enforceable, binding contract, said Bill Swan, agency field solicitor. The Ak-Chin would be leasing water received in its 1983 settlement. The tribe was granted about 75,000 acre-feet, including CAP water and water from a Colorado River entitlement.

Although tribes previously have leased water for off-reservation uses, the Ak-Chin agreement represents the first time Indian water would be leased off-reservation for a development. The original Ak-Chin water settlement did not provide for off-reservation leasing. Congress, however, amended the settlement in 1982 granting the tribe this right.

Critics doubt the Ak-Chins have the water to spare. The tribe has the right to 75,000 acre-feet a year, with an extra 10,000 acre-feet during years when extra water is available. The tribe would get 72,000 acre-feet during years of shortages. Last year the Ak-Chin used 70,000 acre-feet.

Critics also question whether the water supply is sufficient for the size of the proposed community. The Maricopa County supervisors are scheduled to vote next month on the controversial Del Webb proposal to build 16,500 houses and three golf courses on an 8.8 square mile tract that would eventually attract a population about equal to that of Flagstaff. The New River property is located about 12 miles north of the urban edge of Phoenix and 33 miles from downtown.

MDWID Survey Reveals Groundwater Preferred

A poll of Metropolitan Domestic Water Improvement District customers revealed a strong desire to continue receiving groundwater rather than treated Central Arizona Project water, and a willingness to pay significantly higher water bills to make it happen. The survey of all MDWID customers revealed that residents of the northwest Tucson metropolitan area generally approve of the quality of their tap water, and are unwilling to accept treated CAP water from Tucson. By a wide margin, they expressed a preference to have the utility recharge CAP water instead.

Uranium Tailings May Threaten the Colorado

Some 10.5 million tons of radioactive dirt lie exposed in southeastern Utah, three miles north of Moab, the legacy of a uranium mill that operated there during the 1950s. Groundwater in the area is contaminated with up to 1,000 times the allowable federal standard, and the question remains whether any of the contamination has reached the Colorado River. Although the potential threat of the dump is readily recognized, answers to the question vary.

Richard Blubaugh of the Atlas Corp. cites several reasons why he believes contamination has not reached the river. He says the arid conditions of the region and the small size of the aquifer have prevented transport of the contamination to the Colorado River.

Others, including officials from Utah and surrounding states, are not so sure. Some fear that contamination has in fact reached the river, and a national park official says river sampling has demonstrated that some leaching has occurred. Little or no sediment sampling has been done.

To confront the problem, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Committee originally intended to simply place a cap on the dump. In response to concerns raised by Utah officials, NRC instead decided to write an environmental impact statement. Along with in-place capping, the EIS also will examine the much more expensive option of hauling the waste to a safer disposal area.

Downstream from Moab the Colorado River flows through or around five national parks and provides drinking water for milloins of residents of the Southwest, including those in metropolitan Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.

Municipal Conservation Efforts Redirected

Many municipal water conservation programs in Maricopa and Pima counties are undergoing changes in program direction. Some have been reduced in scope, while others have increased responsibilities. Many are experiencing budget and staff increases, as they attempt to reach out to new groups of water users; a few are being given significantly fewer resources.

Overall, programs aimed at existing residential and indoor water uses are being reduced. Instead, greater emphasis is being put on conservation programs that target multi-family and non-residential water uses. Last year's upsurge in new home construction has caused Glendale, Scottsdale, Phoenix, and Peoria to provide new home buyers with more information on xeriscapes before they buy a home and the yard is planted with turf by default. In addition, Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tempe are developing xeriscape demonstration gardens.

Raising the visibility of conservation is another priority, with greater emphasis on videos, public service announcements, and school programs. Mesa found an innovative and inexpensive way to spread the conservation message, by printing it on Pogs.

These changes reflect the maturation of conservation programs, which generally begin by focussing on existing residential water uses, and rely heavily on audits and distribution of leak detection kits and low-flow devices. Programs targeting multi-family units and residential landscaping often follow. Eventually, the focus widens, as conservation managers grapple with the more varied commercial and industrial uses of water, and attempt to learn what assistance these customers need to reduce water consumption. An example is AMWUA's current efforts to develop a facility managers' guidebook.

Many programs, including those in Tempe, Chandler and Mesa, have increased staff and funding, although in the case of Mesa, responsibilities also have been expanded to include natural gas conservation efforts. Scottsdale's budget is not significantly changed.

Programs with reduced staff or budgets include Phoenix, Tucson, and the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association (AMWUA). After flat budgets over the last three years, AMWUA's conservation budget is being trimmed by about 12 percent. Phoenix's conservation program experienced multiple cuts over the last four years, but this year, there will be relatively modest program reductions in some areas and modest increases in multi-family and non-residential programs. The reduced conservation budget mostly reflects the transfer of staff responsible for rate setting from the water department to the city's finance department.

Large cuts are being experienced by the state's oldest conservation program, Tucson's. Both staff and budget have been reduced by over a third, with some popular programs eliminated (see following story).

Tucson Water Plans for Possible Shortage

An emergency ordinance authorizing a temporarily prohibition of landscape irrigation and other water uses has been approved by the Tucson City Council. Tucson Water officials requested the authority due to the threat of supply shortages this summer.

Tucson's Central Arizona Project treatment plant currently is shut down while consultants consider alternative uses of CAP water. A key pipeline that imports 20 percent of the utility's supply from neighboring Avra Valley recently underwent emergency repairs after the discovery of corroded joints, but the possibility of a rupture remains. Limits on pumping from wells located near riparian areas also are constraining the supply.

The move follows major cuts in Tucson's conservation program and elimination of its popular low-flow toilet rebate program. The city also ended summer surcharge water rates. Rates last were raised three years ago.

Water Protection Priorities Noted

As part of its task of completing a draft application manual, the Water Protection Fund Commission (WPFC), which administers the Arizona Water Protection Fund grants program, sent out approximately 900 questionnaires in March to individuals, groups, and agencies. Input was requested on which areas in Arizona to target for protection and restoration projects, issues of concern, and appropriate measures for addressing these issues. Facilitated workshops also were conducted.

The WPFC received 82 responses to the questionnaires, a response rate of 11 percent. The San Pedro, Santa Cruz, Verde, and Gila surface water basins were most often noted as needing protection. Priority issues of concern included groundwater pumping/overdraft, grazing, development, and agriculture.

Respondents further indicated that grazing controls, recharge, revegetation, public education and water conservation projects would be effective in alleviating negative impacts in riparian areas.

The questionnaire and workshop responses, along with other project criteria such as need for the project, feasibility, cost-effectiveness, broad-based local involvement, matching fund availability, habitat impacts, and monitoring capability, have been incorporated into the application criteria rating system.

An informal public hearing on the draft criteria rating system will be held April 25, at the Arizona Department of Water Resources, Phoenix. Also, written comments may be submitted to the WPFC from mid-April, when the draft application manual will be available, through mid-May. Application packets will be available from ADWR starting June 1.

For information regarding the upcoming hearing or WPFC activities, contact Tricia McCraw, Arizona Department of Water Resources, 602-417-2460.