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BOARD02567
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8/16/2009 3:17:04 PM
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Board Meetings
Board Meeting Date
1/24/2001
Description
CWCB Director's Report
Board Meetings - Doc Type
Memo
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<br />was codified into law earlier this fall with the assistance of Congressman Ron Packard, who has been a great friend and <br />partner in this venture. <br /> <br />In Utah, within the past year the Congress has approved a negotiated water settlement with the Shivwits Tribe. Although <br />it involves a relatively small entitlement, 4000-acre feet, the settlement provides yet another excellent example of how <br />basin issues can be successfully resolved. The settlement complies fully with the Virgin River recovery programs under <br />the Endangered Species Act. And some of the water will be made available and delivered to tribal lands through a <br />partnership agreement utilizing the water infrastructure of the neighboring city of St. George. <br /> <br />In Arizona, the Department convened a large group of stakeholders to discuss settlement of remaining claims in the <br />watershed of the Gila River, including the claims of Gila River Indian community, whose historic water use and reserved <br />rights are by far the largest of any Indian tribe in Arizona, or for that matter anywhere in the West. With the active <br />support of Senator Kyl and the Arizona Department of Water Resources, and after several years of difficult negotiations, <br />we have agreed now upon the framework of a water budget for the tribes. <br /> <br />Our progress on this Central Arizona settlement legislation - if all goes as expected and with attention to some matters <br />that need to be addressed before the legislation is finalized - will resolve outstanding Indian water rights claims and end <br />litigation involving the Gila River Indian Community, the Tohono O'odham Nation, and the San Carlos Apache Tribe, <br />and will set aside water for settlement of future tribal claims, as well as provide water for future non-Indian needs. <br /> <br />Under the bill, nearly half of CAP water will be available for Indian tribes in Arizona, and a firm funding source will be <br />provided to fund infrastructure and other costs associated with tribal use of their water rights. In addition, the settlements <br />act bill introduced by Senators Kyl and McCain (S. 323 I) will, if amended to address our remaining concerns, resolve <br />years. of unproductive litigation by bringing much needed certainty to repayment and operation issues associated with the <br />Central Arizona Project. <br /> <br />We expect within the next week or two to send a letter to Congress stating our view of the changes that we believe are <br />necessary, and I anticipate that the settlement will be confilmed in the next Congress. Once that is done, we shall have <br />met an important legal and moral commitment to the tribes and to the benefit of Arizona, and we shall have done so in a <br />way that respects Arizona's water management system. <br /> <br />There are more water settlements yet to come, notably with the Navajo, Hopi and Zuni tribes in the Little Colorado River <br />Basin. Nonetheless we are now within sight of complete resolution of Indian claims throughout the entire Basin. We <br />should take special note of this remarkable transformation that we are well on the road to completing. Indian water <br />issues, once viewed as an insurmountable obstacle or a threat to the economic well being of non-Indian communities, <br />have now been worked out and accommodated within the framework of the law of the river without major dislocation and <br />in ways that assure that water supplies will be developed for the benefit of both the Indian and non-Indian communities in <br />our respective states. <br /> <br />Environmental Issues: I also take great satisfaction in the way we are finally making environmental concerns a priority in <br />the river basin. For many decades, we developed basin water supplies with scant attention to protection ofthe natural <br />values of the river system. Since the passage ofNEPA, the Endangered Species Act and other environmental laws, that <br />has changed. <br /> <br />In recent decades our concerns have broadened to include endangered species, salinity control, dam-induced modification <br />of historic river flows, contamination of the Salton Sea, and the concerns presented by the diminution of traditional <br />streamflows to the Mexican delta. In the process, we have repeatedly demonstrated that we can blend environmental <br />laws into the law of the river and that it is possible to restore a more natural river system while providing adequate water <br />supplies for the growing population within the basin. <br /> <br />Salton Sea: The increasing salinity of the Salton Sea and the related massive die-off of wildlife took us by surprise in <br />1996. With timely assistance from the Congress, the Salton Sea Authority and the Bureau of Reclamation have <br />completed a draft Environmental Impact Statement examining the alternatives for protection of the resource values. The <br />science team under the leadership of Dr. Milton Friend has provided many new and important insights into the problems, <br />illuminating their complexity, among other things, and identifYing possible solutions. Several pilot projects to <br />demonstrate de-salting technologies are now in progress. <br /> <br />37 <br />
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