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001650 WESTERN STATES WATER mE WEEKLY NEWSLElTER OF mE WESTERN STAlES WAlER COUNCIL editor Tony Willardson Creekview Plaza. SUite A-ZOI I 94Z East 7145 So. I Midvale. Utah 84047 I (801) 561-5300 I FAX (801) 255-9642 typist - carrie curvin WATER QUAUTY . FY92 EPA AppropriationsIWetlands The $90.036 Veterans' Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies' (VA-HUD- IA) appropriation bill recently passed by the House provided $6,636 for EPA, including $500,000 in funding for a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) study on wetlands delineation. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a $87.756 VA- HUD-IA bill on July 31, with $6.976 ear-marked for EPA The Senate's EPA funding is $47,2M less than the President requested, and $340,8M more than the House bill. The Senate bill contains $2.656 for the Clean Water AcLconstruction grants program. The House bill contains $2.46, The Administration requested $2.56. Funding the NAS wetlands' study was deleted from the Senate bill. If the funding is approved by a conference committee, money will be included in the EPA budget for a one-year study to evaluate the validity and utility of existing wetlands delineation manuals, focusing on: (1) methods for delineating wetlands where identification factors are difficult (such as wetlands subject to drought, those that are seasonally dry, etc,); (2) the use of field indicators and their relationship to hydrology; (3) the use of different vegetation and hydrology in different regions in the country: (4) the definition of 'growing season'; and (5) the utility of vegetation tests. WATER RESOURCES . Arizona/State legislation The Arizona legislature passed a number of water resource-related bills in its recently completed session, An alternative conservation program was enacted to allow certain municipal water providers to participate in a non-per capita conservation program in lieu of the current gallons per capita per day requirements, A second component addresses chairman - Dave Kennedy executive director - Craig Bell conservation requirements for agricuttural water users by specifying reductions in their agricuttural water duties for the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Management Periods under Arizona water law. It also allows some entities to use water beyond their Second Period management plan conservation requirements if the water is not ground water. A bill was also passed to establish state water conservation standards for plumbing fixtures. A bill was enacted to clarify the authority to exchange one type of water for another in Arizona. Existing exchanges will be grandfathered if they are registered with the state. Small exchanges (50 acre- feeLor leS&per year) will be exempt. Exchanges not- exempt or grandfathered will be subject to a notice requirement, unless surface water is involved, when a permit will be required. Also, an accounting system will be established to clarify how conservation requirements apply to water involved in exchanges. Three ground water recharge bills were passed. One allows certain entities to recover water from underground storage and recovery projects outside the area of hydrologic impact of recharge. Another creates an annual storage and recovery program to allow recovery within the same calendar year to encourage the use of surface water and Central Arizona Project supplies by reducing the need to construct treatment plants and water delivery and backup systems, A number of bills were passed aimed at protecting riparian areas and instream flows. They will require studies, mapping and classification, evaluation of the effect of ground water pumping and surface water diversions on riparian areas, and a report recommending the scope and parameters of any necessary regulatory program and statutory provisions for a riparian area protection program. There were