Arizona Water Resource Volume 11 Number 4

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May - June 2003 Arizona Water Resource Proposed San Juan Pipeline Raises Complex Legal Issue Two tribes and a city located within two states are working on a water supply project made additionally complicated since its completion would entail delivering upper basin Colorado River water for use in the lower basin. The project involves constructing a 250 -mile pipeline to de- liver about 36,000 acre -feet of San Juan River water to Gallup, New Mexico as well as to the Navajo Nation capitol of Window Rock and Navajo communities in New Mexico and Arizona. The Jicarilla Apache of New Mexico also would benefit from the proposed project. First discussed about 1970, the plan made little headway until 2000 when New Mexico legislators voted some funding for the proposed project, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation got involved in the steering committee and suggested several project alternatives. The steering committee selected a preferred plan, and an environmental impact statement was initiated. The communities that stand to benefit from the project rely on groundwater, with the San Juan River, the identified source of water for the project, the closest surface water supply. The 1,200 acre -feet delivered to the Jicarilla Apaches would come from the tribe's water rights to the river. Navajo's water rights are being looked to for supplying the rest of the water for the project. Complicating the situation, however, is that Navajo wa- ter rights to the San Juan River have not yet been settled. Navajo negotiations for San Juan River water include 27,000 acre -feet of depletion rights for use in this project, to be delivered to the reservation. Gallup has several options to secure a source of water for its needs. The city can request through the Secretary of the Interior uncontracted water from the Navajo Reservoir or the city can negotiate with the Navajo Tribe, once The consortium will coordinate ASU research in urban development currently underway in various academic fields. A prime intent is to combine the university's environmental science and engineering re- search in metropolitan Phoenix with other related university fields. The goal is to bring an interdisciplinary approach to problem solving and to broaden the research focus to include analysis of global urban affairs. The consortium builds upon ASU's established commitment to urban studies. Its Center for Environmental Studies re- ceives National Science Foundation support to participate in its Long Term Ecological Research program, to study ecological pro- cesses occurring over long periods of time in the Phoenix area. The new consortium will be housed at the center, with center di- rector, Charles Redman, heading it. its water rights are settled, or with the Jicarilla Apaches for tribal waters to supply its needs. Much obviously depends upon the settlement of Navajo water rights to the San Juan, not only to supply water for the project, but also to provide the means to construct it. Rege Leach, reclamation team leader of the U.S. Bureau of Reclama- tion western Colorado Office, says "At this point, we are look- ing at this project as wrapped around the Navajo settlement on the San Juan in New Mexico. There is the likelihood that the Navajo piece would be repaid through the settlement. We are assuming at this time that Gallup's piece and the Jicarilla Apache piece would be fully repaid by those entities." Further complicating the situation is that water pumped from the San Juan to supply the designated locations would en- tail moving water from the Upper Colorado River Basin for use in the lower basin. The San Juan is located in New Mexico in the upper basin. The project proposes using the water in three river basins, with a portion used in the upper Colorado River basin in New Mexico, another portion used in the Rio Grande basin and a portion for the lower basin in areas of New Mexico and Window Rock, Arizona. This plan bristles with legal com- plexities. Leach says, "It is a contentious issue. Some read the Colo- rado River Compact to prohibit moving water between basins." What is being proposed is unprecedented and resolving the is- sue will require negotiations and evaluating the law of the river. Leach also explains they are in the process of completing a draft environmental impact statement, and they hope that pend- ing water issues will be resolved in the meantime, with the reso- lution reflected in the completed EIS. Environmental Industry Provides Profits, Jobs Recently released U.S. Department of Commerce statistics profile the economic health of the water /environmental industry. Statistics show current annual revenues for the entire industry at $200+ billion for more than 115,000 revenue- generating enterprises that ernploy 1.4 million workers. Municipalities are the largest segment of the marketplace, with more than 80,000 local government divisions acquiring ap- proximately $65 billion in environmental technologies every year. But domestic sales are virtually flat with only 3 -5 percent growth a year In terms of gross revenue and employ- ment, environmental technology is larger than such industries as aerospace, computer hardware, paper, steel, textiles and chemi- cals. Environmental technology also em- ploys more than six times the workers than motor vehicle and car body manufacturing and nearly equals that sector's revenues. In 2003, exports of environmental technology goods and services will top $21 billion, representing a positive trade balance of $10 billion and creating 170,000 new jobs. Currently the global environmental technology market is slightly over $500 bil- lion per year and is projected to grow to $564 billion by 2005 and to $1 trillion by 2010. Experts predict a 10 percent annual growth rate in parts of Asia, E. Europe and Latin America. Considering the current situ- ation — US companies have less than a 5 percent share of the non -US market. — US companies may not be in position to take advantage of the opportunities.