Southwest Hydrology: The Resource of Semi-Arid Hydrology Volume 4 Number 2

Home Browse Search

GOVERNMENT USDA Funds $19.5M for CO River Basin Salinity Control From the U.S. Department of Agriculture In November, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming will receive $19.5 million in funding from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) to control salinity in the Colorado River Basin. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will provide $9.7 million each to Colorado and Utah and $90,000 to Wyoming. Only these three states have USDA - approved salinity control projects in the basin. Through EQIP, NRCS works with eligible agricultural producers in the basin who voluntarily implement land management and irrigation improvement practices that reduce salinity by preventing salts from dissolving and mixing with river flow. Improved irrigation systems reduce leaching in the soil, which in turn decreases the amount of salt that moves through the soil into the water table. The result is less salt in the Colorado River. USDA partners with the U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Reclamation and Bureau of Land Management to carry out Colorado River Basin salinity control activities. The Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Forum, established in 1973 by the basin states, provides interstate and interagency coordination and guidance for the combined state and federal salinity control efforts. USDA aims to reduce the annual salt loading by 705,000 tons by the year 2020. So far, agricultural producers have reduced over 404,000 tons of salt, nearly 57 percent of the USDA goal. The collective goal for the federal partners is to reduce 1.8 million tons of salt annually by the year 2020. Additional information on USDA's Colorado River Basin salinity control activities is at wwwnres. usda.gov /programs /salinity /index.himl. Additional information on EQ1P is at www.nres.usda.gov/ programs /egip. 12 • March /April 2005 • Southwest Hydrology Updated Water Reuse Guidelines from EPA The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Water and Office of Research and Development, in partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), have released the 2004 "Guidelines for Water Reuse Manual" (EPA625 -R- 04/018), which provides water reuse guidelines and supporting information to help water and wastewater utilities and regulatory agencies, particularly in the United States. The new document updates the 1992 guidelines by incorporating new information on water reuse, including expanded coverage of water reuse issues and practices in other countries. It was developed through an EPA Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the consulting firm CDM, and an Interagency Agreement with USAID, along with extensive volunteer contributions. Topics covered include reuse applications, technical issues in planning water reuse systems, U.S. regulations and guidelines on water reuse, legal and institutional issues, funding, public involvement programs, and water reuse outside the United States. The 288 -page document is available through EPA's Office of Research and Development/Technology Transfer Program at wwwepa.gov /ORD/NRMRU pubs 1625r041081625r04108.pdf. Tribal Water Settlement Ends Long- Standing Disputes An agreement that the Arizona Republic called "the most far - reaching Indian water settlement in U.S. history" was signed into law in December, settling decades -old disputes involving the state of Arizona, several tribes, and the federal government, according to the newspaper. The settlement allocates 47 percent of the Colorado River water in the Central Arizona Project (CAP) to Indian tribes in Arizona, which may then lease the water back to cities for a profit, said the report. Cities are expected to benefit by having a determined water supply and by being able to claim a small amount of new water. Specific allocations were made to the Gila River Indian Community south of Phoenix, which received the largest share of CAP water — 155,700 acre -feet per year — and the Tohono O'odham Nation south of Tucson, which received 37,800 acre - feet, according to the Republic. Additionally, the article said the settlement resolves a dispute over Arizona's debt to the federal government for the cost of building the 336 -mile CAP canal, completed in 1993. The federal government had previously demanded that Arizona repay $2.3 billion of the canal's $3.6 billion cost; the amount was reduced to $1.65 billion in the agreement. The bill includes $2.2 billion over 40 years to cover operation and maintenance charges for delivery of water to Indian communities and to accommodate future settlements. San Carlos Apache water rights claims were protected under the legislation, but are still under litigation. The bill does not address Colorado River claims by the Hopi and Navajo tribes, which continue to await settlement, according to the Republic. Visit wwwazcentral .com/arizonarepublic. Water Supply a Concern for Rural Arizona Rural Arizona needs state help in dealing with water resource challenges such as drought, rapid growth, and tougher arsenic standards. That view was voiced at a Water Conservation Leadership Forum in Phoenix on Jan. 7. One participant noted that establishing new Active Management Areas (AMSs), which provide water management in Arizona's urban areas, is difficult, and current AMA regulations would not address some rural problems, such as the tens of thousands of domestic wells currently exempt from AMA regulations.