Pacific Southwest Water Plan - Report August 1963

Document: Pacific Southwest Water Plan "Printed Copy" Chapter II, August 26 ,1963 page 10Indian reservations which have a very limited development. The population and economic growth of the area have been small compared to the central portion of the State. The pressure of the growing urban population to the south for recreational facilities is being felt, emphasizing the need for an overall development of the Little Colorado River tributary system. Central Arizona for many years has sought to supplement locally available water supplies with Colorado River water. The most recent plan to furnish supplemetal water is known as the Central Arizona project which was developed by the Bureau of Reclamation and published in H. D. 136, 81st Congress, 1st Session. In recent years, the plan has been updated to reflect current cost and conditions. Arizona sought to have the Central Arizona Project authorized more than a decade ago but was forestalled in its attempts to obtain Congressional authorization because of the conflicting claims of the States of the Lower Basin to the use of the wates available from the Colorado River. During the last decade the population of Arizona has doubled and the metropolitan areas of Phoenix and Tucson have grown more than twice as fast as the State as a whole. The water needs of the area have grown proportionately and now far exceed the water supplies available locally. The Central Arizona Project provides for pumping Colorado River water from Lake Havasu through an aqueduct system designed to serve the phoenix metropolitan area and the area south thereof to tucson. Colorado River water would be delivered directly to the cities and agricultural areas within central Arizona to provide supplemental and replacement water. The replacement water would be needed to offset currently used local supplies which would then in turn be diverted to other areas in the State to meet local needs. The bulk of the water supplies available to central Arizona have long been appropriated by the areas to be serviced with water diverted from the Colorado River. The only way in which areas outside central Arizona could intercept and use waters already appropriated for uses in central Arizona would be through water exchange agreements. These water exchages would be accomplished by delivering replacement water from the Colorado River to the users in central Arizona. The local areas could then intercept locally available waters and use them without damaging the areas holding the prior rights thereto. Since the opinion of the Supreme Court in the case of Arizona v. California, et al, Arizona plans to seek authorization for the Central Arizona project for the benefit of the State as a whole. While the Central Arizona Project would provide approximately 1,200,000 acre-feet of supplemental and replacement water to central II-10Epson Perfection 4870 Photo, 400 dpi, 8 bit, 1,148,466 byte