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." . . I I I . I I . . I I I I I I I I INTRODUCTION' OVERVIEW The Arizona Water Banking Authority was created in 1996 by the 42nd Legislature as a mechanism to bring Colorado River water currently unused in Arizona through the Central Arizona Project (CAP) for storage in Arizona. The Legislature has charged the Authority with storing the water for the following purposes: 1) protecting municipal and industrial Colorado River water users against shortages on the Colorado River or disruptions of the CAP system; 2) meeting the water management objectives of the state's groundwater code: and 3) providing opportunities to implement the settlement of Indian water rights claims, Under certain circumstances, the Authority may also store water in the future to assist meeting water needs in California and Nevada. As a part of the Water Bank implementation process, the Arizona Water Banking Authority enabling legislation mandates that the Water Bank develop a Storage Facility Inventory of all existing storage facilities by March 1, 1997, A.R.S,!i 45-2452(A), The Storage Facility Inventory is to determine "whether storage facilities exist in this state to meet the water storage needs of the authority for the following ten years." A.R.S.!i 45-2452(D), The Authority must update the Inventory at least once every five years, A,R,S, !i 45-2452(F). The Inventory is to be developed in consultation with the Central Arizona Water Conservation District (CAWCD), to determine whether delivery of CAP water to a storage facility is feasible~nd the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR), to determine if storage by the Authority at a facility listed in the Inventory helps to promote water management objectives. For the purposes of this Inventory, a storage facility is a facility operated etther to recharge water underground or to preserve existing groundwater supplies pursuant to permits issued by ADWR under Arizona's Underground Storage. Savings and Replenishment Act, A.R.S. !i!i 45-801.01 et seq. An Underground Storage Facility (USF) is a facility in which water is diverted from the CAP aqueduct and placed in spreading basins, streambeds or injaction wells for direct recharge into the aquifer, Groundwater Savings Facilities (GSF) are usually irrigation districts that have a history of groundwater pumping and that are able to take CAP water or effluent "in lieu" of groundwater. At GSFs, the Water Bank receives long- term storage credits for the groundwater that is not pumped as a result of the delivery of CAP water. The Water Bank has chosen to prepare this Inventory by examining four regions of the State: 1) the Phoenix Active Management Area (AMA), 2) the Pinal AMA, 3) the Tucson AMA, and 4) the remainder of the State, This approach has allowed the Water Bank to give special consideration to regional concerns and to assume that storage facilities would be needed in these three AMAs sufficient to utilize fully the groundwater withdrawal fees and 4-cent tax revenues available to the Water Bank in the areas where those monies are generated, 3