TUCSON — Two Tucson water utilities make new, voluntary cuts to Colorado River water quotas as part of a broader effort by the federal water administrator to boost supplies to drought-hit systems It is expected to be.
Tucson Mayor Regina Romero on Wednesday signed an agreement with the Landfill Authority to leave 110,000 acre-feet of Lake Mead over the next three years. In the Tucson area, she has signed a similar agreement for 15,000 acre-feet of the Metropolitan Water Improvement District (MetroWater), which serves more than 50,000 people and hundreds of businesses.
Tucson and Metro Water will accept the cuts through 2025, compensating for $400 per acre-foot. The city of Tucson had already proposed to leave 60,000 acre-feet of water in the system between 2022 and 2023. An acre-foot is a unit used by water administrators and is enough to supply about three homes in the Southwest for a year.
Romero said the deal would help the city fund “critical infrastructure improvements that keep the region’s water safe.”
The money comes from a $4 billion drought relief package that Senators Mark Kelly (D-Arizona) and Kirsten Cinema (I-Arizona) helped secure in last year’s Inflation Control Act.
There are six more agreements across Arizona, most of which are in the Phoenix metropolitan area, Deputy Landfill Commissioner Michael Blaine said at the conference. The agency will also soon be accepting new proposals for water conservation projects in the Lower Colorado River, with the goal of retaining more water in Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the Lower Colorado River.
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Blaine, who oversees the agency, said: “The number one priority for reclamation is to channel the resources from the Control Inflation Act and the bipartisan Infrastructure Act into communities and the projects that will have the greatest impact. We are committed to ensuring that our investments deliver meaningful results.” Publicity contact for the media.
The two agreements signed Wednesday are separate from plans submitted to the Department of the Interior on Monday by the states of Arizona, California and Nevada to save 3 million acre feet of water on the Colorado River.
But they are “core elements of the Lower Basin proposal,” said Patrick Dent, deputy general manager of the Central Arizona Project. Dent recognized the participation of Arizona and Indian tribes as “essential to sustaining and sustaining the regime.”
At the signing ceremony, Deputy Secretary Michael Blaine said six more agreements were underway. Interior officials said they expect authorities to continue to invest in Phoenix (150,000 acre-feet over three years), Glendale (21,000 acre-feet), Peoria (19,400 acre-feet), and Scottsdale (18,000 acre-feet). announced that it had completed a deal with Gilbert (3,600 acre-feet). ft) and Asarco Mining Company (56,000 acre ft)
All agreements were advanced through the Central Arizona Project (CAP), which will provide approximately 6 million people in Maricopa, Pinal, and Pima counties with water from the Colorado River.
“Projects funded under this program will enhance water conservation, improve water efficiency, and prevent system reservoirs from falling to critical low elevations, threatening water supplies and hydropower generation. It will help,” said Camille Karimrim Touton, a reclamation commissioner.
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“Hydrological discontinuity”
Metro Water had entered into an agreement with Reclamation to transfer 25% of its annual CAP water quota in 2019.
Water utilities were the first to use compensatory “system integrity agreements” of this kind with federal agencies. Under the agreement, 40% of the annual quota will remain at Lake Mead, according to general manager Joe Olsen.
“I think it was kind of an attempt to make sure it was doable and appropriate,” Olsen told the Arizona Republic. “Until last year, we were the only municipal and industrial provider with such an agreement.”
Metro Water does not provide customers with water from the Colorado River. The company’s main service area is in well fields in the Avra Valley, 21 miles east of where CAP’s water is stored, and the utility relies on pumping groundwater from nearby wells. This allows the company to store and recharge CAP water quotas on agricultural land in Abra Valley and Pima County, where utilities exchange them for credits to offset pumping. But it also lowered the water table in nearby wells.
“There is a hydrological discontinuity,” Olsen said.
Metro Water is partnering with Marana and Oro Valley to build infrastructure to bring CAP water to service areas. They have been planning for nearly eight years and are about two and a half years away from completion, Olsen added. Compensation for leaving more water helps pay for this infrastructure.
Tucson Water also pledged to further slash its CAP quota in an agreement this week, leaving about 22% more water in Lake Mead than in the past two years.
“What we are celebrating today is what good water resource planning has done for southern Arizona, and specifically for the city of Tucson,” said Tucson Water Commissioner John Kmeek.
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Investing in water safety and quality
Conservation agreements will not adversely affect Tucson Water’s supply. Last year, through a conservation agreement, the power company left his 25,000 acre-feet of land in the system.
“It was still part of the surplus CAP water,” Kmeets said. “The community only uses about 100,000 acre-feet a year. Our contract is 144,000 acre-feet a year, which means we were still storing water.”
The Tucson Water Commissioner told the Republic that funds received last year for leaving CAP water on Lake Mead helped the city design and build a PFAS facility on Broadway Street. A water utility wants to deal with the plume of toxic manufacturing chemicals, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances that originate from Tucson’s Davis-Monthan Air Force Base and can continue to contaminate nearby wells. there is
“Going forward, the funds from this agreement will be used for other water-resilient water resource management capital projects and more conservation-related projects to save water,” said Kumiecz. Some of the funds could be used to build additional projects to increase sewage recharge.
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Clara Migoya covers environmental issues for the Republic of Arizona and As Central.Send your tips and questions to clara.migoya@arizonarepublic.com.
Environmental reporting at azcentral.com and in the Republic of Arizona is supported by a grant from the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust. Follow The Republic Environmental Reporting Team at environment.azcentral.com and @azcenvironment on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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