CAP Water Demand Increases

If dry conditions persist in the state, Colorado River water deliveries by the Central Arizona Project easily should exceed one million acre-feet this year, CAP General Manager S. "Sid" Wilson said.

"Through May 8 the CAP provided more than 350,000 af of surface water from the Colorado River to cities, farmers and Indians of Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties. This is about 100,000 af more than in the same period in 1995," Wilson said.

"Even without the dry conditions, we anticipate Colorado River water deliveries to climb above one million af in 1996. One reason is that the demand for water has been rising steadily since 1991. The dry conditions have added to the demand," Wilson noted.

Factors contributing to the higher 1996 deliveries include farmers cultivating more land due to an expected good market for wheat and other grains and more water supplied for direct recharge into the ground, particularly to the Granite Reef Underground Storage Project. GRUSP, located northwest of Mesa, is managed by the Salt River Project for the benefit of the Salt River Valley cities.

In 1995, CAP delivered about 60,000 af of Colorado River water for recharge. Through April, GRUSP received almost 39,000 af of the 60,000 acre-feet ordered for 1996. In addition, CAP anticipates beginning deliveries to the first Pima County recharge site this summer.

Due to sparse rain the past winter and spring on the Salt and Verde river watersheds, reservoir storage on those rivers is low and SRP hopes to receive Colorado river water from CAP this summer and fall. The Colorado River water would be in lieu of water the SRP would otherwise pump from the ground to meet customer needs.

When allocations are fully utilized, the CAP expects to deliver an average of 1.5 million af of Colorado River water per year.

Tribes, BuRec Agree on CAP Cost Funding

Historic "self governance" agreements signed by the Gila River Indian Community and the Salt River-Pima Maricopa Tribe with the Bureau of Reclamation provide for funding the design and construction of the delivery system for their Central Arizona Project water allocations. Instead of contracts being reimbursed quarterly, the new funding agreement will provide money up-front based on annual budget requests for project design and construction, and it will be renewed annually.

The Gila River Indian Community is designing a distribution system for 77,000 acres of historically irrigated lands. The total cost of the 15-year project is estimated at $238 million, with construction expected to begin next year.

The Salt River-Pima Maricopa Tribe is completing its $10-million delivery system for Salt River Project water. The tribe has leased its entire CAP allocation to cities in the Phoenix area. Deliveries are to begin in the year 2000. A water rights settlement also provides the tribe an annual allotment of 38,000 acre-feet of water from the Salt and Verde rivers.

New EPA Policy "Empowers" States

A new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency policy allows states more flexibility in assisting small communities meet environmental regulations.

"With this policy we intend to empower the states," said Kenneth Harmon of the EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. "We are telling the states that EPA will accept responses other than traditional enforcement."

According to the new policy if a small community cannot correct its environmental violations within 180 days of a state's commencement of compliance assistance, the community and the state should negotiate a compliance schedule the community can reasonably meet. In certain circumstances, EPA will allow small communities to prioritize and correct their worst problems first.

Also, according to the new policy, EPA will defer to a state's decision to waive part or all of the usual noncompliance penalties if a small community demonstrates good faith and makes reasonable progress toward compliance.

Not covered by EPA's policy are criminal violations or circumstances or violations presenting an "imminent or substantial" public health or environmental danger. Nor does the policy mandate that states must offer compliance assistance to small communities.

This policy on Flexible State Enforcement Responses to Small Community Violations implements part of the Clinton Administration's Reinventing Environmental Regulations Initiatives efforts announced March 16, 1995.

BuRec Seeks New Turf in Water Reuse

In response to its mission priorities and budgetary constraints, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is increasing its involvement in water reuse. Its reuse interest is reflected in a number of bills pending in Congress to authorize BuRec to participate in the construction of water reuse projects.

To help define its reuse mission BuRec recently conducted a series of "brainstorming sessions." According to a BuRec official the brainstorming sessions were to allow "Reclamation the opportunity to fashion its reuse program in a manner that moves the agency out of the reactive mode in which we so often find ourselves." BuRec's ultimate aim is to develop policy regarding the scope and implementation of its authorities relative to reuse.

The agency's immediate task is to address the level of funding for reuse and identify criteria for selecting and setting priorities among the many reuse proposals BuRec receives. BuRec also is planning to open channels of communications between the agency and the general public. For further information on this effort, contact Shannon Cunniff at 202-208-5007; email: scunniff@usbr.gov.

ACC Faults Pine Utility

The Arizona Corporation Commission has accused a Pine, Arizona water utility of ignoring its order not to extend water mains to serve new customers. The ACC issued this order to the E&R Water Co. in 1989 because of recurring water shortages in the area.

The ACC, however, allowed a limited number of new customers to be added to existing lines to protect the area's real estate market.

Despite the ruling, new extensions have been discovered in at least three areas served by E&R, according to an ACC report. This aggravates a developing problem. "A water shortage situation is already developing in the Payson area generally, and in the E&R Pine System specifically," said the report.

"Storage levels in the E&R Pine system at the time of inspection were less than 25 percent. The addition of new subdivisions will exacerbate a perennial water supply shortage that exists within the service territory of E&R-Pine."

A May 30 hearing was held in Payson, and a hearing officer is preparing a recommendation for the ACC. At issue is whether the company is to be fined up to $5,000 per violation.

E&R is a unit of Utilities Systems Group of Payson, a utility with water companies in Strawberry, near Payson and on the Mogollon Rim.

EPA Says Clean Water Pays

In its ongoing efforts to encourage an appreciation of clean water and the legislation promoting it, the Environmental Protection Agency recently released a report stressing the economic benefits of clean water. Titled "Liquid Assets: A Summertime Perspective on the Importance of Clean Water to the Nation's Economy," the report states that clean water contributes billions of dollars to the economy each year by supporting tourism, shellfishing, manufacturing, irrigation and technology. "Economic prosperity and environmental protection go hand in hand," said EPA administrator Carol Browner.

Highlights of the report include the following:

The public takes more than 1.8 billion trips to beaches, rivers, and lakes, contributing to the $380 billion spent on recreation and tourism.

The value of real estate along desirable water areas is nearly 30 percent greater than at similar inland properties.

Manufacturers use about 13 trillion gallons of water each year, including the soft drink industry, which uses more than 12 billion gallons of water annually to make products valued at more than $50 billion.

Warning that the value of clean water should not be taken for granted, Browner indicated that 40 percent of rivers, lakes, and streams surveyed remained too polluted for fishing or swimming and that 20 percent of drinking water systems report violations of health standards.

Low Runoff Stress SRP Supplies

The Salt River Project's reservoirs will get only about one-fifth as much water from runoff, to make this one of its driest years ever. Winter runoff will total only about 130,00 acre-feet compared to the normal 650,000 acre-feet. Runoff is about 80 percent of SRP's water supply.

SRP officials say the last time they received so little winter runoff was back in 1955. Sufficient reservoir capacity is available, however, to serve water customers' needs for this year and the next. Also, additional groundwater will be pumped to supplement surface water supplies.