ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Phoenix, Arizona
water exchanges
Purpose
Allows more than 12 months
for the repayment of water exchanged between a multicounty water conservation
district and an agricultural improvement district.
Background
The Central Arizona Water
Conservation District (CAWCD) is responsible for operating the Central Arizona
Project (CAP), which is designed to bring
approximately 1.5 million acre-feet of Colorado River water per year to Pima,
Pinal and Maricopa Counties. The
CAP brings Colorado River water from Lake Havasu into
Phoenix and south to Tucson. CAP water
is used both directly and to replenish groundwater pumped by members of the
CAWCD.
The Salt River Project (SRP)
is an agricultural improvement district that operates reservoirs for generating
electricity and delivering water to the Salt River Valley. SRP operates many reservoirs lying North and
Northeast of Phoenix and delivers water through a series of canals. The SRP and CAP infrastructure for
delivering water to their members converges at the Granite Reef Diversion Dam.
Laws 1992, Chapter 225
enacted regulations to govern water exchanges in Arizona. A water exchange is a
trade between one or more persons or Indian communities of any water for any
other water, if each party has a right or claim to use the water it gives in
trade. This applies whether or not water is traded in equal amounts or other
consideration is included in the trade.
Except under certain circumstances, any water exchanged must be repaid
within 12 months.
According to SRP, SRP
reservoirs are at 34 percent of capacity because of decreased rainfall. The CAWCD currently has surplus water
supplies that could be exchanged with SRP, but SRP could not repay the CAWCD
until years of surplus occurred in their reservoirs. According to SRP and the CAWCD, the requirement that exchanged
water be repaid within 12 months is prohibitive to the exchange of water when
either project has a surplus of water.
H.B. 2594 allows more than
12 months for the repayment of water exchanged between the CAWCD and SRP.
There is no anticipated
fiscal impact to the state general fund relating to the provisions of this
bill.
Provisions
1. Allows more than 12 months for the repayment of water exchanged between a multicounty water conservation district and an agricultural improvement district if the exchange involves surface water stored in reservoirs operated by the agricultural improvement district.
2. Provides for a general effective date.
House Action
NRA 2/13/02
DP 9-1-0-0-0
3rd Read 3/27/02 56-0-4-0
Prepared by Senate Staff
April 9, 2002