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<br />planning document will be submitted to DNRC for approval and become incorporated into <br />the state water plan.77 <br /> <br />Another approach to regional water planning that shifts the focus away from water <br />transfers per se is the formation of water replenishment or augmentation districts in areas <br />that have sought transfers out of agriculture to meet their water needs. Arizona State <br />Representative Herb Guenther has alluded to this option as one that might get municipal <br />and private water interests out of competitive grabs for water farms. University of Arizona <br />economic and policy analysts Gary Woodard and Cara McCarthy concur, suggesting that <br />"having a regional or statewide agency in the business of procuring supplies would <br />minimize the number of players in the game, thereby minimizing the rush to buy farms to <br />acquire water supplies that may never be needed.',78 They list the advantages of using such <br />districts as: <br /> <br />resolving regional conflicts in purchase and delivery of new supplies; <br />developing cooperative projects, such as conveyance mechanisms, with <br />greater economies of scale; promoting the use of renewable supplies rather <br />than mined groundwater; and managing water farms or other water rights <br />qwned by participants. In addition, having one entity holding a portfolio of <br />water rights for an entire metropolitan area allows spreading of risks and <br />pursuing certain supply options on a state-wide basis that may be presently <br />unattainable by individual water users. . . .79 <br /> <br />Legislation establishing a water augmentation district in the Tucson Active <br />Management Area was enacted in 1990 (Senate Bill 1556); the district's operations are to <br />be financed through a groundwater withdrawal fee of up to $2/acre-foot. A proposed <br />district for the Phoenix AMA was discussed by a joint interim legislative study committee <br />following the 1990 session. It would authorize such a district to "'acquire, transport, hold, <br /> <br />39 <br />