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<br />Title I Program
<br />Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act
<br />
<br />Protective and Regulatory
<br />Pumping Unit
<br />
<br />Section 103(a) of Public Law 93-320
<br />authorized the construction, operation, and
<br />maintenance of the PRPU to manage and
<br />conserve United States ground water for the
<br />benefit of the United States and for delivery
<br />to Mexico, The PRPU is located in a
<br />5-mile-wide zone along the Southerly
<br />International Boundary between Arizona
<br />and Mexico, (See frontispiece map,)
<br />
<br />The PRPU was developed to intercept part
<br />of the ground-water underflow that moves
<br />southward from the Yuma Mesa in the
<br />United States into Mexico. Before the
<br />PRPU was constructed, this underflow was
<br />increasing because of ground-water
<br />pumping in the Sonora Mesa Well Field,
<br />immediately south of the Southerly
<br />International Land Boundary in Mexico,
<br />The Basin States expressed their concern
<br />about the pumping in their July 1973 letter
<br />to the President,
<br />
<br />Currently, 21 of the planned full com-
<br />plement of 35 wells and associated
<br />conveyance and energy facilities have been
<br />constructed. The wells are connected by a
<br />15,3-mile pipeline and open concrete-lined
<br />canal that carries water by gravity across
<br />the Southerly International Land
<br />Boundary,
<br />
<br />With 35 wells, the PRPU would be capable
<br />of producing about 160,000 acre-feet of
<br />water per year. illtimate1y, approximately
<br />125,000 acre-feet of water from the PRPU,
<br />combined with 15,000 acre-feet of water
<br />from wasteways and drains in the Yuma
<br />Valley, would furnish 140,000 acre-feet of
<br />Mexico's 1.5-million-acre-foot annual
<br />entitlement, The water will be delivered at
<br />the Southerly International Land Boundary
<br />near San Luis, Arizona, Currently, water
<br />from wasteways and drains in the Yuma
<br />Valley exceeds 15,000 acre-feet per year,
<br />
<br />16
<br />
<br />Should these wasteway and drain flows
<br />diminish in the future, wells will be added
<br />to the PRPU, as needed, to ensure that
<br />approximately 140,000 acre- feet can be
<br />delivered at the Southerly International
<br />Land Boundary at all times.
<br />
<br />Additionally, as authorized by Title I,
<br />approximately 23,500 acres of private,
<br />State, and State-leased lands have been
<br />acquired within the 5-mile zone, The
<br />purpose of these acquisitions is to limit
<br />development and thus limit United States
<br />ground-water pumping to 160,000 acre-feet
<br />per year, as required by Minute No. 242.
<br />Acquisitions were completed in 1984,
<br />
<br />Fish and Wildlife Mitigation
<br />Measures
<br />
<br />Public Law 93-320, as amended by Public
<br />Law 96-336, authorized mitigation of fish
<br />and wildlife habitat losses attributable to
<br />Title I projects, including:
<br />
<br />. Loss of wetlands and seep areas along the
<br />Coachella Canal caused by concrete lining.
<br />
<br />. Deer drownings in the concrete-lined
<br />section of the Coachella Canal,
<br />
<br />. Reduction in agricultural acreage in the
<br />WMIDD,
<br />
<br />. Loss of surface water in the Colorado River
<br />below Morelos Dam caused by conveying
<br />WMIDD irrigation drainage in the Bypass
<br />Drain to the Santa Clara Slough.
<br />
<br />Several measures were implemented to
<br />mitigate these impacts:
<br />
<br />. A water well for wildlife use is being
<br />constructed near Tacns, Arizona.
<br />
<br />. An old borrow pit near Fortuna Wash and
<br />the Gila River east of Yuma, Arizona, was
<br />deepened to improve habitat for fish.
<br />
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