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<br />00u3J4 <br /> <br />Executive Summary <br /> <br />The Yuma Desalting Plant Issues Workgroup <br /> <br />For more than forty years controversy and complexity have surrounded the Yuma <br />Desalting Plant (YDP) and the circumstances that led to its construction. Changing <br />conditions on the Lower Colorado River, including increased demand for water and <br />recent record-setting drought conditions have resulted in an insistence by water users <br />groups that the YDP be operated to reduce the bypass of drainage water to Mexico from <br />the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District (WMIDD). However, operation of <br />the YDP would be expensive and could result in severe environmental impacts to the <br />Cienega de Santa Clara (Cienega), a large wetland, sustained by drainage water the YDP <br />was originally designed to treat. These divergent points of view on how to deal with the <br />bypass flow have resulted in a stalemate and no action plan has been forthcoming from <br />the federal government agencies that have responsibility for replacing the bypass flow. <br /> <br />The YDP/Cienega Workgroup was created at the invitation of Sid Wilson, general <br />manager of the Central Arizona Project, to develop solutions that would both offset the <br />impact of the continued bypass ofretum flows from the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and <br />Drainage District and preserve the Cienega de Santa Clara. The members of the <br />Workgroup, who are all knowledgeable about the issues associated with the YDP and the <br />Cienega, were asked to share their expertise and ideas. <br /> <br />This white paper documents the findings and recommendations of the YDP/ <br />Cienega Workgroup. The Workgroup members desire to share their effort with a wider <br />group of interested parties. They hope this information will be of value, and will be used <br />by policy makers and elected officials within the State of Arizona and the other states of <br />the Colorado River Basin, as well as federal government officials in both the United <br />States and Mexico who are ultimately responsible for adopting and implementing an <br />action plan to deal with these critical issues. <br /> <br />Planning Objectives <br /> <br />The YDP/Cienega Workgroup focused its work by defining a set of objectives <br />with which its solutions must be consistent in order to be acceptable. These include <br />fundamental objectives, which must be met by all solutions, and multi-functional <br />objectives, which, if met, should result in a more broadly supported proposal. <br /> <br />. Fundamental objectives <br /> <br />Solutions must reduce or eliminate the risks of shortage to Lower Basin water <br />users associated with the continued bypass of Well ton-Mohawk IDD drainage <br />water to Mexico without causing a permanent reallocation of entitlements to <br />Colorado River water between and among the users of the Colorado River. <br /> <br />Solutions must maintain the wildlife habitat and ecosystem values ofthe Cienega <br />de Santa Clara. <br /> <br />Solutions must maintain compliance with Minute 242 although the Minute may <br />be subject to modification by mutual agreement of the United States and Mexico. <br /> <br />Executive Summary <br />Recommendations of the YDP/Cienega Workgroup <br />