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<br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />Basin Statesffen Tribes Discussion <br /> <br />Operation of the Yuma Desalting Plant <br /> <br />In early August, I received a copy of a draft report prepared by Reclamation associated with <br />proposed modifications to Title I of the 1974 Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act. The report <br />addresses the issues associated with operation of the Yuma Desalting Plant and the overall objectives <br />of meeting salinity control obligations for deliveries of the Mexican water entitlement pursuant to <br />the 1944 Mexican Water Treaty. In the draft report, dated July 24,2002, Reclamation proposes to <br />utilize methods other than operating the desalination facility to recover the water currently bypassed <br />to the Cienega de Santa Clara. The proposed methods identified in the report include the following: <br />(1) Leasing system water from willing sellers; (2) Investment in advanced irrigation techniques in <br />order to reduce water use; and (3) Obtain non-system water supplies from groundwater and other <br />sources. <br /> <br />On August 29, 2002, Mr. Harris and I attended a meeting of the Basin States' technical <br />Committee. At the meeting representatives of Reclamation, the International Boundary and Water <br />Commission (IDWC) and the Basin States discussed the issues raised in the report. Reclamation <br />provided two staff presentations. The first presentation, was made by Reclamation's Lower <br />Colorado Region office, focused on the proposed Title I modifications described above and the <br />second presentation, made by Reclamation's Yuma Area Office, involved a discussion ofthe annual <br />over-deliveries of Colorado River water to Mexico and issues related to the Minute 242 salinity <br />differential associated with the annual Mexican Treaty water delivery. <br /> <br />In the context of the over-deliveries and the salinity differential, Mr. Jim Cherry, the Yuma <br />Area Office Manager, described the suite of issues facing Reclamation and the Basin States in <br />meeting the Mexican Treaty obligation. <br /> <br />For example in Calendar Year 2000, the United States delivered over 330,000 acre-feet more <br />than the required 1.5 million acre-feet to Mexico. In CY -2001, more than 200,000 acre-feet was <br />over-delivered. As ofJuly 2002, more than 70,000 acre-feet has been delivered beyond the amounts <br />scheduled by Mexico. Reclamation anticipates that an additional 50,000 to 60,000 acre-feet will be <br />over-delivered through the remainder ofthe calendar year. The reasons for these over-deliveries are <br />varied and complex, but generally fall into one or more ofthe following: (I) Water ordered by users <br />in the United States was rejected because oflo.cal rainfall events; (2) Water ordered by users in the <br />United States was rejected for reasons other than weather; (3) Reclamation and users in the United <br />States are not operating the system as efficiently as possible; and (4) Senator Wash reservoir is not <br />operational. <br /> <br />Because of safety of dams concerns, Senator Wash reservoir has not been operational for <br />much of the past few years. In fact, in 2000, the reservoir was not available at all. In 200 I and 2002, <br />the reservoir's use has been restricted. Currently, Reclamation can pump water into the reservoir <br />up to elevation 240 feet mean sea level (approximately 9,100 acre-feet), but can only hold it at this <br />elevation for up to ten days before the reservoir must be lowered. At elevation 230 feet the reservoir <br /> <br />8 <br />