7409 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

LOWER BASIN DEPLETIONS 45 used about 6,300 acre-feet. By 1990, it is projected to be fully developed. Gila ProJect The Gila Project was originally authorized to develop up to 600,000 acre-feet of consump- tive use. It is now estimated that the acreage likely to be developed will consume about 426,750 acre-feet per year. The Gila Project includes the Well ton-Mohawk and Yuma Mesa Divisions. The Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District, which is now authorized to develop 65,000 acres, is anticipated to consume 300,000 acre-feet. In 1987, consumptive use by the District was about 320,000 acre-feet. In 1988, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Water Rights Settlement Act was enacted which provides for a reduction in the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District's entitlement to Colorado River water to 278,000 acre-feet of annual consumptive use. The North Gila Valley, Yuma Mesa, and Yuma (South Gila) Irrigation Districts are included under the Yuma Mesa Division of the Gila Project. A total of 37,187 acres is estimated to be the average acreage developed by the districts within this division. Consumptive use would average 150,000 acre-feet per year and is limited to 250,000 acre-feet under the terms of the Ak-Chin Settlement Act. City of Yuma A contract was signed with the city of Yuma, Arizona for an annual diversion of 50,000 acre- feet per year. The city of Yuma consumptively used about 11,050 acre-feet of water in 1987 and is expected to use 12,000 acre-feet by 2010. Yuma ProJect and Yuma Auxiliary Project The Valley Division of the Yuma project and adjacent land of the Yuma Auxiliary Project are anticipated to supply water to about 53,000 acres of land. About 50,000 acres are within the boundaries of the Valley Division (Yuma County Water Users Association), and about 3,000 acres are within Unit B Irrigation and Drainage District (the Yuma Auxiliary Project). Estimated consumptive use will amount to 212,000 acre-feet per year. The measured return flow from lands of the Gila Project, Yuma Mesa Division and Yuma Project, Valley Division and Unit B is commingled to some extent. The decree accounting now credits unmeasured return flow for the water users in these projects within broad limits. Projections for 2010 show a consumptive use of213,OOO acre-feet. Cocopah Indian Reservation The tribe has a water right to irrigate 1,524 acres ofland or divert 9,707 acre-feet of water, whichever is less. Other Uses Below Imperial Dam The many users with water use contracts are estimated to have a consumptive use of about 10,000 to 12,000 acre-feet in the future. California City of Needles The city of Needles has a present perfected right to a consumptive use of 950 acre-feet per year. In 1987, it was estimated the city consumptively used 2,400 acre-feet. At this time, Needles does not have a water use contract with the Secretary of the Interior and so possibly could lose this source in the future if a contract is not signed. A proposed plan was developed under the Lower Colorado Water Supply Study to provide Needles and other noncontract users an assured water supply. Under this plan, water would be pumped from wells into the All American Canal for exchange with the Imperial Irrigation District and the Coachella Valley Water District. This would allow the city of Needles to pump an equal amount of water annually from the Colorado River. Reclamation would accomplish the plan by installing wells along the southwest side of the All-American Canal in the sand dune area west of Yuma. The city of Needles then would be allowed to continue the existing use of Colorado River water by paying a portion of the operation and maintenance costs of these wells.