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<br />-~; - <br /> <br />t- <br />r. <br />c <br />I~ <br />c <br /> <br />, "" <br /> <br />Controversy arose, however, over Cliff <br />Dam. A lawsuit was filed by several <br />environmental groups opposed to Cliff. In <br />June 1987, Ari2;().na! s;.,Congressional <br />Delegation met with' the special interest <br />groups and negotiated a settlement that <br />deleted Cliff Dam. A provision was <br />included in the 1988 Energy and Yater <br />Appropriations Act to prohibit the use of <br />funds to study or build Cliff. Congress <br />authorized the Secretary of the Interior, <br />acting through Reclamation, to evaluate <br />alternative dam safety and flood control <br />measures on the Verde River and identify <br />and evaluate any alternative water supply <br />sources which could be leased, purchased, <br />or exchanged to replace the water supply <br />that Cliff would have provided. The <br />coalition agreed to terminate its lawsuit <br />and said they would not oppose future <br />funding for the remaining features of <br />Plan 6 provided that Cliff Dam or similar <br />conservation storage reservoirs on the <br />Verde River, federal or non-federal, are <br />not a part of Plan 6, the CAP in general, <br />or any other plan. The environmental <br />coalition also agreed that flood control <br />measures may be needed on the Verde and <br />the addition of flood control measures at <br />Bartlett and/or Horseshoe Dams may be <br />required to meet such needs. <br /> <br />In June 1987, after the Congressional <br />Delegation and environmental coalition <br />agreed to eliminate Cliff, Reclamation, <br />Salt River Project, Maricopa County Flood <br />Control District, and the local cities <br />renegotiated the Plan 6 Funding Agreement <br />to determine what should be done with the <br />money that would continue to be paid by <br />the cities and Salt River Project (SRP) <br />toward the construction of Cliff. The <br />resulting October 23, 1987 agreement <br />created special escrow accounts for them. <br />It was agreed that a safety of dams <br />solution (including flood control, if <br />appropriate) would be presented to SRP <br />for their agreement by December 15, 1988. <br />The agreement also contained an option to <br />remove their Cliff Dam contributions if <br />options were not presented to them by the <br />December 15 date. A similar option was <br />included to allow the Valley cities to <br />remove their Cliff Dam contributions if <br /> <br />alternative water supply sources were <br />not identified by the same date. As <br />discussed in the accompanying article <br />on the Cliff Replacement Yater Supply <br />Study, this date has been extended. <br /> <br />Reclamation therefore initiated three <br />new studies to comply wi th the <br />directives contained in the 1988 Energy <br />and Yater Appropriations Act: The <br />Verde River Safety of Dams Study, the <br />Verde River Flood Control Replacement <br />Study, and the Cliff Dam Replacement <br />Yater Supply Study. <br /> <br />VERDE RIVER SAFETY OF DAMS STUDY <br /> <br />Cliff Dam would have resolved Safety of <br />Dams (SOD) problems at Horseshoe and <br />Bartlett Dams. Based on the need to <br />reformulate the Verde River portion of <br />Plan 6, alternative solutions at both <br />Horseshoe and Bartlett were examined. <br />Solutions were reassessed using new, <br />more recently-accepted technologies. <br />Results of this study showed that the <br />least-cost SOD solution would involve <br />placement of a fuse plug spillway at <br />Horseshoe Dam and a roller-compacted <br />concrete infilling of the buttresses <br />and overflow spillway modification to <br />Bartlett Dam. Other alternatives, <br />including the least-cost solution and <br />a "no-action" alternative, are being <br />documented in an amendment to the 1984 <br />Salt River Project Safety of Dams <br />Modification Report. A final report <br />will be submitted to the Office of <br />Management and Budget in Hay 1990. An <br />environmental assessment (EA) is also <br />being prepared to document and evaluate <br />environmental consequences of the <br />alternative SOD solutions. Copies of <br />the draft EA will be available for <br />public review in early July 1989. <br /> <br />Based on the preliminary findings of <br />Reclamation's team investigating Verde <br />River flood control (see next article), <br />no flood control was included in the <br />dam safety solutions. If the final <br />analysis of the need for flood control <br />on the Verde shows that the inclusion <br />of flood control measures is justified, <br /> <br />2 <br />