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I I I I I I I II I I I I II I II I I I I I Although CAP water deliveries would facilitate meeting the goals of the Act, this was not a specific purpose of the allocations, Instead, the use of CAP allocations to achieve ground-water management goals was left to Arizona's discretion in their recommendations of allocations to the non-Indian sector. The provision of CAP water is inherent in the State's plan to balance the basins for three of the AMA's, The actions and transactions contemplated in the proposed rule are within the current authority of the Secretary, the BCPA, and the Decree. Approved programs for offstream storage and redemption of storage credits have taken place on a limited basis. A CEC (LC-93-9) was completed by Reclamation on April 9, 1993 for approval of a Demonstration Underground Storage Project (indirect recharge) between The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD) and the Central Arizona Water Conservation District (CA WCD). The Colorado River Conunission of Nevada also participated in this three-year project. The Project was amended to increase the volume of water to be stored and NEP A documentation was accomplished by a CEC (LC-95-1O) dated March 30, 1995. Project and site specific NEP A, ESA, and related compliance has been completed by Reclamation throughout the Lower Division States for the CAP, Lower Colorado River operations and maintenance, and the Southem Nevada Water System (SNWS), This compliance addresses environmental effects and provides appropriate mitigation for the mainstream Colorado, C-AP, and SNWS facilities that may be used under the proposed rule, A list of compliance documents is provided in Appendix A, F. Related Non-Reclamation Actions In 1996, the State of Arizona amended its Act and created the Arizona Water Banking Authority (lIB 2494). The Act among other things empowers the A WBA to store Colorado River water brought into the State by the CAP to fulfill the water management objectives of the State under the Act. The A WBA is expressly authorized to provide the opportunity to authorized agencies in the States of California and Nevada to store otherwise unused Colorado River water in Arizona to assist those States in meeting future water needs (ARS 45-2401 F,5), However, AWBA provisions preclude it from entering into agreements with entities in California and Nevada for storage of water on their behalf until the Secretary adopts a rule in support of the interstate component of the Arizona program and the rule is found to be acceptable to the Director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR), These regulations would facilitate and allow the contractual distribution of unused apportionment under article II(B)(6) of the Decree (ARS 45-2427 C,I). The proposed rule would facilitate the interstate component of the AWBA program. In the future, other Lower Division States may enact comparable measures. LC Region DEAl I 5 12197