Colorado River Commission & 7-States Meeting Inside Info: Arizona

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A4 TUESDAY, JUNE 28, 2005 FIKURK TkW FRUIiT PAGE © THE ARIZONA REPUBL M NM . ... . ...... o utions be hard sell E., WATER Continued from AI But most rural officials say there are still ways state lawmakers and regula- tors can help. Two most often men- tioned: Require developers to prove a 100 -year assured supply of water exists for the houses they want to build. Give local governments more authority to manage growth. Other ideas will emerge from the communities: importing water from other locations, striking deals with In- dian tribes or water -rich cities, using more treated effluent, sharpening con- servation programs. Proposals will also have to pass muster with interests as disparate as environmentalists and ad- vocates of private - property rights. "It's not going to be done the way some in rural Arizona want, which is to say, `Just leave us alone,'" said Buzz Walker, Payson's public works director. "It's all interconnected in water. When you step on someone's toe here, some- one says `Ouch!' 300 miles away." What are the answers? The impending rural water crisis has already stirred discussion around the state and has been addressed recently by the Arizona Policy Forum, the University of Ari- zona's Water Resources Research Center and Arizona Town Hall. Here are ideas that have been discussed, where they might work and their prospects. Importing water New water projects Drill wells at a remote location and build pipelines to a city or town. Of- ten, this involves tapping water pre- viously designated as agricultural water or purchasing a farm or ranch for its water rights. Build a water- storage or transport project that would have as much of an impact as the Central Arizona Project had on Phoenix and Tucson. Almost anywhere, although available water is limited in some areas. Prescott bought a ranch in Chino Valley. Flag- staff is shopping around for its own water ranches. Payson recently ac- quired rights to import about 5,000 acre -feet from the Blue Ridge Reservoir on the Mogollon Rim. Flagstaff and Coconino County are studying:a plan to build a pipeline from Lake Powell and tap into some of the state's unused Colorado River alloca- tion. Southern Arizona leaders have discussed ways to reclaim unused mining water near Bisbee and Tomb- stone. Limited unless laws change. State law bans moving water from one drainage basin to another, a law rural counties supported as a way of keeping cities from stealing their water. Geography makes any water - moving plan expensive as areas in most need of water are uphill from those that have water to spare. Limited. The federal government is unlikely to fund any major water reclamation projects. Exception may be a pipeline from Lake Powell if it is part of a Navajo Hopi water rights settlement. if the federal govern- ment built a pipeline as far as Cameron, for example, downstream cities could pay to extend it. Otherwise, projects are limited by local funding. IMPEDIMENTS: Conservation Stretch existing water supplies by Everywhere. Most rural communities Limited only by the willingness of towns and cities Information, money, values using less. already limit water use more strictly than cities. Payson, for example, prices to ask residents to conserve. The drought forced some cities, such as Flagstaff, to reassess conserva- Arizona lawmakers secured future water. water so that it's affordable for basic tion programs. But as supplies tighten, many cities still water supplies for five mostly urban needs but expensive for elaborate have room to encourage more conservation by limit - areas, including Phoenix and Tucson, landscaping. Prescott Valley prohibits ing outdoor use and adding incentives for using less. with the 1980 Groundwater Manage- new golf courses from using potable ment Act. But most of those laws do water. It forced a developer to build a not apply to the rest of the state, where 7 -mile pipeline to irrigate a new golf the population has since doubled to course with treated wastewater. more than 1 million. The state doesn t even have accu- Reusing Water Stretch existing water supplies by Almost everywhere, Many cities al- Limited only by how much wastewater is produced rate information about water re- using treated wastewater, or gray ready use effluent to irrigate golf and how much towns can afford to reuse the water. sources in many areas and lacks the money and staff to perform engineer- water. courses or public landscaping. Some, Building pipelines to carry effluent to golf courses or ing studies in more than a dozen major including Tusayan, expanded that idea to include rainwater harvesting. other locations can be expensive. Rainwater harvest- ing is doable on an individual home basis, as is some water basins. That complicates at- tempts to manage water because no limited gray -water use. Incentives could help with one knows how much there is to star_ t. both. Developing this information is a priority of Gov. Janet Napolitano's Regulation Let the government impose rules on Everywhere. The state could impose Limited unless local views thane Cities and coun- g new "virtual water university," a re- water use, growth, zoning and new some rules throughout Arizona or at ties complain about the spread of "wildcat subdivi- search initiative that will pool the ex- development. For example, the state least could grant local leaders the au- sions," projects built outside zoning laws, but have not pertise of the state's three major uni- could change the law so cities and thority to impose limits. pushed hard for reforms. Real estate interests oppose versifies. counties in unregulated areas could new rules. Local leaders resist regulations on growth "We need to have the information deny a subdivision based on water or groundwater use as bad for their economy. The available in communities so the water- supply and builders could not sell Legislature has rejected recent attempts to add con - resource managers can adequately homes on sites that the state has sumer protections, such as stopping subdivisions that manage the water," said Alan Ste- U__ ' ruled lack adequate water. lack adequate water. F ens, Napohtano s Glum of staff. Although the groundwater act has worked in the cities, leaders from ru- ral areas don't want it extended state- wide in its current form. They point out that a major reason the act has t been effective in places such as met- ropolitan Phoenix and Tucson is that F these areas can tap surface water to help preserve groundwater. There is no rural equivalent of the / �! tGeO9r �` f ` ; �' dphi Central Arizona Project, which deliv- ; , �" ers Colorado River water to Phoenix ` and Tucson, or Salt River Project's system of six reservoirs. This lack of a' ;Vat access to surface water is a major rea- son the Groundwater Management Act has been a failure in the Prescott area, one of the few rural places in- eluded in the act. (See the related ^R y story, Prescott: `Proof that one size of urban regulation doesn't fit all," on the next page.) There are also specific parts of they" 1980 act that wouldn't work in rural��?„c areas. For example, one rule limits the :ti•R xc x projected depth of a well's level be- yond 100 years to 1,200 feet. This isn't a problem in low - elevation urban areas such as Phoenix and Tucson, I A., b t1 where most wells are only 100 to 200 feet. But in Flagstaff, Williams, Pay- n son and other high - country communi- ties, wells routinely exceed 1,500 feet J in depth when they are first drilled. „ The chief hurdle to passing a version gam° of the Groundwater Management Act that could meet the needs of rural areas Mark HenleMe Arizona Republic is not the mechanics; it's values. Most of Retired engineer John Breninger shows maps of the Pine area in northern Gila County, where he has lived for the sweeping proposals, from a state- about 12 years. He believes drilling deeper wells could help ease local water shortages. wide water budget to drought planning, have met with resistance at the Legisla- ture and at the county and municipal ply reviews to a property's title. Under That survey also said that the few mum lot sizes to as large as 40 acres in levels, where distrust of any initiative existing law, a landowner doesn't have growth or water-management pro- some areas, which makes it more diffi- that might infringe on the rights of pri- to disclose the condition of a parcel's posals that made it through the law - cult to split lots into sites without seek - vate- property owners or increase gov- water supply once the property has making process, such as the Growing ing review by planning officials. ernment regulation runs strong. been sold once. Smarter bill, generally focused on find - The state is encouraging that sort of One of the most basic changes many Without those basic changes, the au ing water to accommodate growth local approach. The Department of Wa- water- suDDIv managers at utilities and dit nredirtpd that water- minniv nrah- rathar than hainina manaaa arnarth 1.., ra.. Aaon..n i.al A...a 17 ......:.,...a Powell up to Flagstaff and surroundu communities. Such a pipeline would co billions of dollars, and local leaders co. cede they can't do it without federal ai That might be possible if the plan i eludes a water settlement with the N vajo and Hopi tribes, which have pet tioned for Colorado River water. T1 communities could negotiate a deal i bring their water as far as the reserv. tion's edge through a federally funde pipeline and then build an extension I move the water the rest of the way. That idea illustrates one of the steel est obstacles to helping rural common ties: geography. The areas that mo. need water are uphill from the areas th, have water to spare, a situation that wi test the Western adage that "water rut uphill to money." Moving water too far from where started, from onebasin to another, is ills gal under a law originally supported b rural lawmakers, who feared a raid o their supplies by the cities. Some lot: leaders now wonder if they should see to relax the ban. New waterprojects also mustpass ei vironmental reviews. Conservationist have convinced courts that overpuml ing in southern Arizona has harmed th San Pedro River, and they are makin the same case for the Verde River. Thos groups say people should learn how t better balance the demand for water an the need to leave it where it is. Getting lawmakers to address then issues will take persistent public pre, sure, but that is less likely given the ew ing of the drought. Winter snow and rai bought most areas a comfortable sprin and summer. Fewer water shortage are expected, and most communitie have reported rising well levels or, i areas like Flagstaff and William: