WSP05136

• File Number: 8200.400
• Description: Colorado River Basin Briefing Documents-History-Correspondence
• State: CO
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Water Division: 5
• Date: 10/1/1999
• Author: DOI-BOR
• Title: Programmatic Environmental Assessment-Rulemaking-Offstream Storage Colorado River Water - Development-Release Intentionally Created Unused Apportionment - Lower Division States - Appendix H-Section II
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

04/03/1998 16:33

818-543-4685

ooo~ 72

COLDRAOO RIVER BOARD

PAGE 07

United States Bureau ofRecJamation
Mr. Dale Enljmi.,ger
April 3,1998
Page 6

Storable Water

The Colorado River Board of California requests that the Proposed Rule: be modified to allow
agencies which have entered into agreements with other entities to COIlSC1"VC water or to 5llVC: water
by fiIIlowing land to store that water in the Arizona Water Bd if the agencies do not require tbe
water in the year in which it is conserved or saved. This could be accomp1ished by the Bureau of
Reclamation recommending and the Secretary of the Interior approving the use of a certain amount
of water in each state in each year. With this quantity known, agencies within the state which have
paid the costs 8lI5OCiated with the conservation or fiIIlowing would be able to plan their operations
and determine whether any of the water to which they are entitled to \ISC could be stol'ed in the
Arizona Water Bank.

Intentiolllll1v Created Unused Anoortionment

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Section 414.3( a}(7) requires that aninterstate storage agreement speci1Ywhich actions the authorized
storing entitywi1l take to develop intentioIllll1y created unused apportionment and Section 414.3(a}(8)
requires that an interstate storage agteetn<mt must specity that the authorized entity of the storing
state certifY to the Secretary that intentioIllll1y created unused apportionment has been developed that
would otherwisC not exist. Neither of these paragraphs provide guidmu;e as to how the creation of
intentionally created unused apportioDlJlent would be verified. .As such, the Colorado River Boatd
of California 1JIUSt look to a draft discussion paper dated lWIC 3, 1997, entitled "Process for
Detennining Forbearance of Diversions for Interstate Banking Projects with the Arizona Water
Banking Authority" distributed at a A WBA meetiug to determine what Arizona has in mind with
respect to verification. 1bat paper indicates the fOllowing seven 'Steps in forbearance":

Step one.
Step two,
Step three.
Step fOur.
Step five.
Step six,
Step seven.

Ordering Water recovery.
Banking Autliority offi:rs recovery credits to CA WCD.
Colorado River annual operating plan detennination for the year.
Arizona contractors place water onlc:rs.
Revision ofwater orders.
Recovery ofbaoked water.
Payment.

Wrth this order of events, Arizona contractors could increase their Colorado River order by the
amount of recovery credits offi:red (Step 2) pribr to placing their initial water order (Step fom). This
could prevent an unused apportionment from being intentiollll11y created as the contractot(s) could
revise their water orders downward to what the water orders should have been initially (Step five).
If a contrnctor would have pumped groundwater or re~ surliJce water regardless ofwhether
recovery credits were offered by A WBA, the contractor could hold claim that it rewvered banked
water and receive payment. Thus. the order of the steps in forbearance should be revised as follows;