Queen Creek received the long-awaited green light from the Bureau of Reclamation to finalize a controversial plan to purchase water directly from farmlands along the Colorado River.

News promotion: On Friday, the Bureau of Reclamation Judging that there is no significant impact For the plans of Queen Creek.

• This paves the way for the town and the agency to sign contracts and finalize several other water contracts, allowing Queen Creek to start receiving as early as January, said utility director Paul Gardner. told Axios.
• “It was a pretty monumental decision,” says Gardner.

detail: Queen Creek will pay GSC Farms LLC approximately $21 million for a perpetual right to 2,033 acre feet of water per year.

• The farmland is located in Cibola, an unincorporated community on the Colorado River in La Paz County.

Important reasons: The agreement will help secure water supplies for the rapidly growing Queen Creek. Its population has gone from 26,361 in 2010 to 59,519 in 10 years.

Line spacing: Gardner said this water could supply about 6,000 homes if used in new homes.

• Home lots in five groundwater “active management areas” must prove to the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) that they have a 100-year supply of water.

note: The Colorado River Basin, including Arizona, is in the midst of its 22-year history. great drought it led to some Cut State Quota Volume of water from the Central Arizona Project (CAP), which transports water from the river to other parts of the state.

Opposite side: The Queen Creek plan had many opponents. Officials of La Paz, Mojave and Yuma counties State Representative Regina Cobb (Republican) has spent much of her career in Congress focused on water issues.

Cobb says she’s worried regarding Impact of water migration on Cibola It’s also concerned that the agency has set new precedents for similar deals in both Arizona and California.

• ADWR Director Tom Buschatke Recommended approval Drought conditions have significantly worsened in 2020.
• “It seems strange for them to make this decision, especially at this point,” Cobb told Axios. “Why are you doing that when you’re telling every state, ‘Hey, if you guys can’t come up with a plan, we’re going to come up with one for you’?”

What’s next: There are additional steps that must be completed before the plan is finalized, such as execution of contracts involving towns, GSC farms, CAPs, and departments.

• Buschatzke said the agency found Queen Creek’s proposal had no environmental impact, but stressed that those other steps need to be completed before final approval is given.
• Queen Creek spokesperson Constance Halonen Wilson said she hopes it will go smoothly.